trouter_space Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 I'm in the middle of replacing the ball joints on Granny and having trouble getting this part off. I'm not even sure what it is, or if it's fused to the knuckle. Any pointers on removing this thing? Do I need to remove it to get the ball joints out? It's not a camber bushing, is it? To make this post a little more useful, here are some torque specs for the job. I dug around in documentation for the service manual section on ball joints but couldn't find it? Maybe I missed it. Tie Rod Adjusting Sleeve Nuts → 30-42 ftlbs (36) Tie Rod Stud Nut → 50-75 ftlbs (63) Spindle Nut → 22-25 ftlbs First tighten lower ball joint to 40 ftlbs, then upper ball joint to 100 ftlbs, then lower ball joint to 100 ftlbs Thank you for any help, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 That is the alignment bushing (there may be two, one inside the other). As to getting it loose, I would have to look it up, Darth is a F350 and has king pins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 That is the alignment bushing (there may be two, one inside the other). As to getting it loose, I would have to look it up, Darth is a F350 and has king pins. You may be able to get the ball joint out without removing the eccentric bushing. But it will take placing the nut on the ball joint and hitting it with a hammer to see if it will move. Not easy. I had to destroy the bushings in Dad's truck to get them out. I used a chisel on the "ear" to the right of the slot and made it close a bit and rotate. Then I tried the other side. Broke the ears off but got the bushings out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trouter_space Posted October 24, 2021 Author Share Posted October 24, 2021 You may be able to get the ball joint out without removing the eccentric bushing. But it will take placing the nut on the ball joint and hitting it with a hammer to see if it will move. Not easy. I had to destroy the bushings in Dad's truck to get them out. I used a chisel on the "ear" to the right of the slot and made it close a bit and rotate. Then I tried the other side. Broke the ears off but got the bushings out. I'll put a ball joint press on it; If I can replace the ball joints without messing with the bushing that would be ideal for now. But dimes to dollars says my camber is off and that most alignment shops wouldn't want to touch it. Sigh. Thanks for the advice, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 I'll put a ball joint press on it; If I can replace the ball joints without messing with the bushing that would be ideal for now. But dimes to dollars says my camber is off and that most alignment shops wouldn't want to touch it. Sigh. Thanks for the advice, I used a balljoint press...the style you use with an impact gun, and everything came out of mine just fine. They took a lot of force, and some persuasion...but they did come. My truck had 0 degree concentric bushings from the factory...I assumed they all did? I don't know. I put the same ones back in, and my alignment was bang on. I talked to a guy that used to do a lot of twin I-beam alignments years ago, and he said that the 2wd trucks rarely ever needed alignment bushings installed. He said that more often than not, they just needed new coil springs. I know that the guys that lift and lower these trucks commonly have alignment issues, but for a stockish truck at stock ride height, a front end alignment shouldn't require too much effort imho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trouter_space Posted October 25, 2021 Author Share Posted October 25, 2021 I'll put a ball joint press on it; If I can replace the ball joints without messing with the bushing that would be ideal for now. But dimes to dollars says my camber is off and that most alignment shops wouldn't want to touch it. Sigh. Thanks for the advice, I used a balljoint press...the style you use with an impact gun, and everything came out of mine just fine. They took a lot of force, and some persuasion...but they did come. My truck had 0 degree concentric bushings from the factory...I assumed they all did? I don't know. I put the same ones back in, and my alignment was bang on. I talked to a guy that used to do a lot of twin I-beam alignments years ago, and he said that the 2wd trucks rarely ever needed alignment bushings installed. He said that more often than not, they just needed new coil springs. I know that the guys that lift and lower these trucks commonly have alignment issues, but for a stockish truck at stock ride height, a front end alignment shouldn't require too much effort imho. Thanks for the great info, good to know. New springs are on the list but I want to get a little lift as it were. So I'll look forward to that problem when it comes, ha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trouter_space Posted October 29, 2021 Author Share Posted October 29, 2021 Popping this... having quite a time getting the ball joints out. I've been torching them and following up with liquid wrench, then using a pneumatic impact wrench (with a big, friendly 150psi tank) on the press but they're not moving. Been hitting it with the impact driver and trying different positions for the last couple hours. Anyone had them in like this? Am I going to have to remove the ibeams and take them to a machine drop to have them drilled out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Whitstone Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 Popping this... having quite a time getting the ball joints out. I've been torching them and following up with liquid wrench, then using a pneumatic impact wrench (with a big, friendly 150psi tank) on the press but they're not moving. Been hitting it with the impact driver and trying different positions for the last couple hours. Anyone had them in like this? Am I going to have to remove the ibeams and take them to a machine drop to have them drilled out? I recently did my upper and lower ball joints on some 4x4 F150 suspension pieces (1995, but should be the same). I have not tried a little press tool like that one, what got mine out were 2 pickle forks, one on the upper and one on the lower. Beat on them alternatively with a large sledge and eventually they popped out. Your arrangement looks a little different, I think the 2x4 ball joint orientation is different. On the 4x4, both ball joints point "up" so the pickle forks are driving in the same direction force-wise (down). If the 2x4 arrangement has them opposed (one points up and one points down) you might only be able to use 1 pickle fork at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trouter_space Posted October 29, 2021 Author Share Posted October 29, 2021 I recently did my upper and lower ball joints on some 4x4 F150 suspension pieces (1995, but should be the same). I have not tried a little press tool like that one, what got mine out were 2 pickle forks, one on the upper and one on the lower. Beat on them alternatively with a large sledge and eventually they popped out. Your arrangement looks a little different, I think the 2x4 ball joint orientation is different. On the 4x4, both ball joints point "up" so the pickle forks are driving in the same direction force-wise (down). If the 2x4 arrangement has them opposed (one points up and one points down) you might only be able to use 1 pickle fork at a time. On this one, both of them seat in from the bottom, so they both point "down" and need to pressed downwards to come out. The problem is there is nowhere to wedge a pickle, they have a rim they sit in from on the bottom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Whitstone Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 On this one, both of them seat in from the bottom, so they both point "down" and need to pressed downwards to come out. The problem is there is nowhere to wedge a pickle, they have a rim they sit in from on the bottom. I went and took a pic of my old 2WD stuff (I'm converting it to 4WD). Here is where the pickle forks would go. Seems like plenty of room to get the point of a fork in there. Is yours different than that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts