the boot is supposed to be removed when it is pressed in. even the mechanic should have done that. impact pressure is a little different than leverage from a breaker bar or long handle ratchet. the impact moves too fast and if you start to go crooked it will ruin the lower control arm before you even notice it.i very rarely use my impact wrench for anything. i only use it to loosen bolts. tightening is better left to the air ratchet.:)

those are both really neat for removing tie rods and the upper ball joint. if you get it under the boot just right you can use it to remove good parts without ruining the boots. BTW where did you find those?

I bought the ball joint popper from www.mytoolstore.com part # 61900.

http://www.mytoolstore.com/toolaid/suspn02.html

Danny

thanks alot:)

The correct tool, rented from Performance Products, yes thats www.************************ will press in the ball joint WITH the boot on. It is correctly sized to do so without damaging anything. It easily drove in my new ball joints using nothing but a 1/2" ratchet. YRMV, RT

I still don't understand why people are using rachets to put the new ball joint back in. I recieved my new joints today, and I don't see any threads or anything that would indicate that this is to be screwed in. It looks to me like it literally gets pressed in. Now I admit, I am stupid when it comes to this stuff, but can anyone tell me what the rachet is used for? Or are you just talking about the nut on top?

the ratchet is used on the press. a few people feel an impact wrench is the way to go. but,if you start to press in crooked you will be on the market for a new lower control arm due to the impact moving too fast. when using a ratchet if it looks wrong you can just stop.

All I know is my old boots had a criss cross cut pattern in them. Obviously they were replaced before. In know for a fact the PO didn't do it himself. I don't know if the INDY used the right press or not but I would remove the boot anyway.
especially since it comes right off and goes right back on.

Your going to pay money to rent from Performance Producst, wait for it to arrive, pay money to send it back. Why go through all that trouble when a press is available from Autozone for free?
Why make a simple job so hard?

Danny

I just wanted to let everyone know that the Autozone ball joint press WILL NOT work on an 85 300SD, and I would imagine it won't work on any year 300SD. There is a special tool that my local mechanic luckily had, the bad thing is he charged me $25 for about 10 minutes of work, and I had to wait there for an hour for him to stop chit chatting with one of his customers before he'd do it. So now I have a new tie rod, upper control arm, and ball joint on the drivers side. I am not looking forward to doing the passenger side! The worst thing was getting the old tie rods off, they were a pain. I literally ruined the pickle fork I just bought.

I used it on my '84 SD and I'm pretty sure it will work on any SD.
So you my friend are wrong

Dude your crazy. I posted a picture of the proper tool and even a place to buy it.

Danny

Maybe your 84 is different, but on mine you absolutely cannot use a regular ball joint press because the steering knuckle is in the way, it just will not fit. And I did use the proper tool for getting the tie rod off, and no I am not crazy thank you.

THE AUTOZONE PRESS WILL WORK!!! I WANT TO SEE A PICTURE OF YOUR MECHANICS "SPECIAL" PRESS. dannym has an 84 300sd and i have an 83. i have used the press on both my cuurent and my first sd. i just checked the part numbers between 85 and 83 and they are the same!!!! belive me it wasnt mind power that pressed it in for me.

a pickle fork is only used when removing a part that isnt being reused. it will ruin boots. if you were removing them and then reusing them the tools dannym posted were the right ones.

First off, I wasn't reusing the tie rods. Second, there is no way whatsoever of using an Autozone press on an 85 300SD. I don't know what your problem is, I tried it, it won't fit, not even close, end of story. The only way it could have fit for you is if you had the press upside down. Which is probably why you people mess around taking the boots off, because otherwise it would rip. Don't you know that the smallest of the 3 different shaped cylindars is supposed to fit over the ball joint, then the round thing fits over that, then the press pushes down on the round thing? Well if you do it this way, there is no way to fit the whole assembly over the joint. Show me a picture of you pressing the joint in using an Autozone press, and I will prove that you weren't even using the tool properly.

Here is a better description with pics of what I am talking about. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/48647-ball-joints-done.html