Need help replacing all 4 ball joints

damn man i know what you mean, i had to "modify" the tie rod end bolt to get it back on because i was pounding on it before i got the pitman puller thing.

i have my upper BJ's sitting here and i was going to install them but now i know i should pay someone to do it haha

 

You've done everything except what I told you to do. (I've done a few balljoint changeouts along with camburg spindle change outs)

The method I described hasn't failed me yet, but whatever, you can either give it a shot & succeed or you can piss & moan about it all day throwing money at it when you dont have to...I'm out

 

Are you using a fixed-jaw pitman puller like the one I posted? Why didn't it work? There are no flexible parts on that puller to slip off.

You have my sympathy with the boot tear. Part of the reason I went with uniball UCAs and heim swaybar links...

 

Well I managed to do the whole job, both sides. Upper and Lower ball joints. Took me about a day and a half.

Summary of the hard parts and what I did:

Removing Upper Ball Joint from Upper Control Arm: I used a ball joint separator along with a 4 foot square pipe over the handle. I also removed the brake caliper from the disk, tied the CV axel up out of the way, disconnected the spindle from the lower ball joint and disconnected the brake line bracket from the spindle and ripped off the BJ boot before I started. Then I cranked it and banged the BJ stud with a hammer at the same time. Finally popped using this method. The pitman arm tools I tried both didnt work as they wouldn't fit over the UCA. I couldn't get that 3 armed puller to hold without warping and slipping off the spindle, so this also didn't work for me.

Removing Lower Ball Joint from Lower Control Arm: Same method as above. For some reason the lowers popped a little easier.

Removing old Upper Ball Joint from Spindle: This was also a total bitch. I was successful using the combination of a 7/8 Deep socket over the BJ Stud, it was just long enough to seat on the BJ "body", and that BJ C-Clamp looking thing in the orange box pictured in this thread, AND a "4x4 Expansion Pack" that comes separate to be used with that BJ C-Clamp tool. Word of caution: Even with all the little pieces that come with the BJ C-Clamp tool kit and in the "4x4" kit, no combination of any of it would suffice to remove the BJ. I still had to used a 7/8 socked. Read somewhere that somebody used a cutting wheel to cut the end of the BJ stud to fit a piece...might work. Finally with the C-Clamp mess attached to the BJ/Spindle on the ground, I slipped the handle from my Jack through the C-Clamp while using the same 4 pipe over my ratchet...all while standing on the spindle, I was able to get it out.

Installing New MOOG Upper Ball Joint in Spindle: Again I used the C-Clamp with a piece it came with that just fit over the BJ hole and sat on the spindle. On the other side I used a 4mm thick piece of steel and rested that against the bottom of the MOOG BJ. Pressed it all together using the above method and it worked. One thing of note, for those of you installing MOOGs, I read a few people having a hell of a time installing the rubber boot over the BJ housing...I put a tiny bit of grease on the inside of the boot and used a piece that came with the "4x4" expansion set to press it on. Super tight fit, wouldve been near impossible without that random piece.

Summary: Despite my crying and whining, I was able to do it. Woud I do it again? With my exact method yes probably...Have the exact parts you need down to the brand of the borrowed pieces from the auto store...will save heaps of trouble. The hardest part is figuring out your method and the ways to do it. The passenger side took me probably 12 hours including multiple bike rides to Oreilly. The Driver's side took me about 3 hours after I'd learned my method on the other side. Caution: Be very careful around the CV boots, I easily could have ripped a boot then had a bigger problem on my hands. Same goes for the brake lines. Also be very careful with the MOOG lower BJ boots, both sides have a tiny hole in the same place which is very curious to me. I contacted MOOG and they don't sell an exact replacement boot separate....

PS: I didn't have a vice at my disposal, did this alone and avoided going to a shop to press anything. Biggest job I've done in the past was replace a CV boot. Installing Coilovers and rear add-a-leaf was easier than the ball joints. This is without a doubt the hardest job I've done on my truck. But I feel like Mohammed Ali now.

 

I appreciate your suggestion. In the end I did use a hammer to hit the actual stud while I cranked on the BJ separator fork with the 4ft pipe extension. Success was 9 parts leverage and 1 part hammer. I didn't want to just smack the shit out of the spindle with a giant hammer. Stoked it has worked for you but I prefer more calculation. But honestly, I appreciate the suggestion.

 

I'd buy uniball UCAs in a heartbeat if I could afford em camburg long travel too. Can I just rubber cement the hole? I mean after all, these MOOGs ARE greasable...if I can just seal those tiny holes, I may manage to get away without replacing the entire Lower BJs again.

The Pitman tools I had were Identical to the ones you pictured. I had two sizes and neither would fit over the UCA. If I'd bought them I probably could have modified them slightly to fit... I did use one for one of the tie rods, the other I hammered out.

 

One side I used the pitman puller and it worked flawlessly, the other side I just hammered once and it popped.

Believe it or not, I'd do it again now that I have my method all dialed. It would probably take me 2 hours per side to do it again. Ill take some pictures of the exact pieces I used with the brand name so you can borrow the exact same ones if you decide to do it.

 

Nice work! Glad to hear you were able to figure it out and get it done.

And I nice follow up too. I think most who attempt this job underestimate the difficulty. I know I certainly did.

 

thanks for the write up, I KNOW I have to replace mine. now I now moog is about the best and I have used there products in the past,but I was looking at Raybestos professional line (installed new rotors and shoes on a friends Xterra last month got them from rockauto, and I was impressed with there quality, thinking about using them for my tie rods ends links, and the ball jointss

 

Can't speak for Rabestos, know nothing about them. All I can say is the MOOG joints are tested by tons of off-roaders and they are approved...thats tough to argue with. These ball joints will probably never be replaced again for the life of the truck unless something goes wrong. I wanted lifetime quality.

The

$52 MOOG K90259 Front Right Lower Suspension Ball Joint for Toyota Tacoma

lowers are 47 each on Amazon and the

$27 MOOG K90255 Front Upper Suspension Ball Joint for Toyota Tundra

uppers are 36 each.

 

I'm going to retorque everything today...here are the torque specs for my tacoma from the Factory Service Manual:

Upper BJ Nut: 80ft-lbs
Lower BJ Nut: 112ft-lbs
Steering Knuckle (Spindle) * Lower BJ (4 bolts): 59ft-lbs
Brake Caliper * Steering Knuckle: 90ft-lbs
Wheel Lugnuts: 83ft-lbs
Front Driveshaft W/O Free Wheeling Hub (ADD): 174ft-lbs
Tie Rod * Lower Ball Joint: 67ft-lbs

1996 Tacoma V6 4x4 Extended Cab with ADD