Is the "big ball joint at the chassis" the track rod mount? What do you think you did wrong when you installed it that caused it to become damaged? I am following your thread closely because what you do may help me determine why I have front end clunks after only a year. My guess is faulty parts but maybe I did something wrong.

I had a spring compressor so I replaced everything. The only thing I didn't do in my suspension rebuild was replace the sway bar bushings so that is the first thing that I will do on my second try. How long did it take you to do that?

Replacing the Lower control arm bushings was pretty tricky. Did you take it to a shop? I did it myself and ended up cutting the outside of the bushing with a hacksaw to break it loose from where it was pressed into the metal shaft of the center bushing. I then pried the bushing out of the control arm and pulled the center bushing out with a threaded rod. A PVC pipe union (o.d. 2 3/4) worked fine for pressing the large part of the outside piece into one side of the control arm. Then I used the bolt from my old idler arm to pull the inside in. I did the other side in stages using the bolt and the PVC union.

I am sure that it is much easier with the right tool.

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Tom Hughes
St. Louis
84 300SD
92 300D
86 300SDL