Quote:
Originally Posted by bgkast
Well I did a bit more looking around under there and the only rubber that is not cracked and split are my lower ball joint boots. One of my upper ball joint boots is cracked nearly in half, so I guess I will just do the full enchilada. Should I replace the lower ball Joints anyway, or is the rubber a good indicator of overall ball health? 
Any tips on the rebuild Delivery Valve? I know you posed a good pictorial on schuman's but I can't access it any more.  |
The rubber is somewhat a good indicator of good health. What is important is that there is no play or clunking on the joint.
As far as replacing it anyways? I am probably the worst person to ask as you know I went postal on my suspension because I had "might as well syndrome"!
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Any case if you are going all out, my best friend was a 3 lbs ball peen or cross peen hammer. I popped out almost every joint by swinging this hammer hard at the joint eye... Don't worry these cast iron parts are really tough and can take this kind of hammering. I didn't use a ball joint puller but I did use a pickle fork on some joints. The pickle fork would definitely destroy the boots on the old joints. Another tip is never hammer down on the bolt end of the joint, you'll mushroom it and never be able to take them off.
As far as the lower ball joint, I used a big impact socket and a hammer with heavy swings to wack them out of the steering knuckle. Not too a bad of a job there.
But installing them back into the knuckle, I would recommend shop around to see who and how much someone can press them in for you. I don't recommend pressing them in yourself.... Unless you have access to a real hydraulic press.
Regarding the LCA bushing, they are in two halves and a center metal bushing keeping them aligned. Dig into one side and pop the other side out.
Installing them.. I think I put the new rubber bushings in the freezer over night, then spayed them with Windex and installed them using the AutoZone ball joint press (which I used to install one of the lower ball joints). On the outer part of the bushing, there are tabs make sure you note where the tabs are oriented originally on the old bushings and make them the same as the new ones.
Other notes are that I had to widen up the spring tower hole to get the compressor through it and mark the position of the old guide rod mount setup by counting the threads that are showing and replicate that on the new mount.
Hope this helps.