Front Springs ?

[PToombs]

Ok, I started to change my front springs, and I pulled the nut from the lower ball joint. Then the lower arm wouldn't drop off. DUH? The brake rotor is in the way!
Do you guys pull the upper ball joint to swap springs? Or pull the rotor?
The other thing I noticed, the upper ball joint wasn't tight in the hole, it popped up. I'm gonna have to tach weld that sucker in there too.

[GO OVRIT]

It should be tight. You should have to beat on the knuckle or if you have to use a pickle fork.

[Philip]

Pete normaly when I do springs I pop the upper ball joints on about anything. Let the lower arm support all the weight of the hubs/spindles.

Don't tack weld that upper ball joint. Replace the spindle and ball joint.

[bradshaw106]

im confused... we are not talking about leave springs are we...
king pins??

[Philip]

Look at Pete'sa sig he has a D model truck thats a 2WD.

[PToombs]

GO, the shaft popped out of the arm, but the arm hits the rotor.

Philip, that's what I thought, thanks. On the ball joint, I replaced them last summer, and the joint was up out of the upper A arm. I whacked it with a hammer, and it popped back in with the weight of it.

Bradshaw, 2 wheel drive, A-arms, coil springs, balljoints.

[GO OVRIT]

The other thing I noticed, the upper ball joint wasn't tight in the hole, it popped up. I'm gonna have to tach weld that sucker in there too.

What I meant was that once the nut on the ball joint is tightend, it shouldn't pop up with out breaking it loose. Philip is right, you probably need a knuckle or possibly you got a ball joint that had a smaller than spec shank. Or even the wrong taper.

[PToombs]

It's not the shank that's loose, it's the body of the joint in the upper arm.

I got 1 in, what a bear! I really had to work that SOB to get the nut back on. I went to my buddys shop and stole a small ratchet binder, hooked it between the A arms and drew it together until I could start the nut. Then when had all the cotter pins in, I realized I forgot to check the bushing in the lower A arm.
Oh well, if it's bad, it's gonna stay that way for awhile!

[SChandler]

Pete,

If the ball joint came out of the upper A-arm by itself REPLACE THE UPPER A-ARM WITH ANOTHER ONE. I had the ball joint pop out while I was driving due to letting someone talk me into pressing it out instead of buying the socket and threading it out. I do not recommend pressing out old thread-in ball joints. I trashed two arms due to this practice. When I rebuilt the front suspension on my 2wd I put a block of wood under the spindle/lower a-arm and used the pickle fork to separate upper ball joint from the spindle. The old coil springs practically fell out of the buckets (not shot out, didn't need a spring compressor). Slid the new springs in and used the floor jack to get the spindle up far enough to start the nut on the upper ball joint.

[PToombs]

Well, it would have been nice if I had known they screwed out last year when I did it! I didn't buy my FSM until last fall.
In the FSM they show a spring compressor, ball joint remover, tool to push the ball joints loose from the knuckle,..... Man, that's too many tools!

[dpuckett]

I used 2 jacks- one to lift the center of the truck pretty high (like 18" off the ground). The second got placed under the spring on the lower control arm. I pickled forked the upper ball joint from the spindle to allow the entire assembly to come down. Lower the arm til the spring is slack, and remove the spring. Make SURE you orient the spring in the right direction- there is an up and a down.

You need to replace that upper arm and ball joint. If you weld it, how are you going to replace it in 2 years?

DP

[grumpy]

where is a good place too order new coil's for my 93 2wd???

[PToombs]

DP, the 1st one lasted 16 years and 189k miles, I figure the 2nd should last at least as long, since I only put on about 3k a year.


Grumpy, I got mine at Carquest here in town. Moog 7226s, $120, they had to ship them in though, $133 total.

[Richie O]

Pete, I used to work at auto parts store a few years ago and have replaced a few joints of my own. I have found that a replacement ball joint and any front end joint will not last very long. It seems that any replacement, even a Moog, does not last. I used to get 100k out of factory stuff then lucky to get 10,000 out of replacement.

[PToombs]

Yeah, I've heard that. Just can't let me dream a little can ya?