Steering and tie rod end question

[wavingpine11]

I have the OTC press and made my own adapters out of this and that, and it did fine. Believe me, once you own the OTC press you will not, as long as you have the strength to pick it up, regret that you have one.

My press just came the other day and wow, yeah, you're right about that. It is a thing of beauty. My last adapter should be delivered sometime today, so I'll be putting it to task Saturday morning. I've already wire brushed the crud and rust off the area of the joints where they meet the axle C, and sprayed everything down with penetrant, so hopefully it's a fairly facile process.

Just a few odds and ends to be taken care of and maybe I'll be sporting some current inspection stickers in about 2 weeks! My favorite repair on the list is to fix the big hole that rusted in the tranny tunnel above the exhaust. . .

 

[Matthew Currie]

My press just came the other day and wow, yeah, you're right about that. It is a thing of beauty. My last adapter should be delivered sometime today, so I'll be putting it to task Saturday morning. I've already wire brushed the crud and rust off the area of the joints where they meet the axle C, and sprayed everything down with penetrant, so hopefully it's a fairly facile process.

Just a few odds and ends to be taken care of and maybe I'll be sporting some current inspection stickers in about 2 weeks! My favorite repair on the list is to fix the big hole that rusted in the tranny tunnel above the exhaust. . .

Just wait until you find out how handy that press is for U-joints. :clap:

 

[wavingpine11]

Nice. I like multifunctional investments!

 

[wavingpine11]

I was going to attempt the ball joints on Saturday but someone claimed it was going to rain. I decided to start working on them tonight because it was really nice outside. I envisioned myself sitting in the rain on Saturday and it wasn't looking that exciting.

So I started the job around 6:15. I was washing my hands off before 8 o'clock after having removed and replaced all four joints. I wasn't even hurrying. It was getting dark so I wrapped the ends of the axles in plastic bags until I can put on the grease boots and reattach the knuckles, then get on to replacing the steering stuff.

I took my time and made sure that the new joint was concentric with the bore as I pressed the new ones in. I just followed the advice I found on here and used the tools as shown in the FSM and the job was almost disappointingly pedestrian. Given how many other rusted-fast junk I've already replaced on my ride, though, it was actually a pleasant surprise.

Thanks to everyone for all of your advice and comments. I think I'll be back on the road by Sunday.

--wavingpine11

 

[iwannadie]

Great when you have the right tools for the job and a well planned attack, things just seem to go so much smoother.

Did your old ball joint "pop" dramatically? I swear when the first one popped for me I thought the whole jeep was going to fall off the jack stands or something ha. The other side didn't pop at all though.

 

[wavingpine11]

Great when you have the right tools for the job and a well planned attack, things just seem to go so much smoother.

Did your old ball joint "pop" dramatically? I swear when the first one popped for me I thought the whole jeep was going to fall off the jack stands or something ha. The other side didn't pop at all though.

They all pretty much popped and jumped a 1/4 inch or more as they let go. It seemed like they were overcoming the friction of whatever residual rust was gluing them in place. For three of them I loaded the press pretty good and then tapped the axle C right around the joint a few times with a hammer. Nothing abusive, just giving it a little encouragement. Either at that point or when I would give it a little more pressure right afterwards, they would finally pop and then move pretty easily from there. The last one just popped without any tapping and then pushed out easily like the rest.

I got the tie rod ends replaced yesterday, which I wasn't really motivated to do before the final adapter for the ball joint press came, and if it wasn't raining, I'd be reattaching the steering knuckles this morning, putting the hubs back in, and then hooking the steering back up. I guess I'll see how I feel about the rain later today.

 

[wavingpine11]

Lowers are ok to move at any angle new but should be stiff and have no play - i.e. they should be able to swivel as a ball in a socket would. Uppers are actually more of a round rod in a hole than a ball in a socket, which is why they stay on axis but spin.

Crunching could be the balljoints, could be any of a million other things too though. Check your steering box bolts and track bar also.

Just to follow up here, the ride quality increased 1000% when I replaced the ball joints and steering. Notably, I lost a ton of vibration (even with destroyed front tires still mounted) and the steering tightened up very noticably. The worst of the crunching was frustratingly still present, however when I hit a bump or turned. That DID turn out to be the track bar bracket. I have the TnT drop bracket and the two stock nuts had come loose. It's driving excellently right now! Again, thanks for all the input everyone. I hope to meet some of you at NAC-Fest!