Installed ball joints today

[apache]

As the title says, I pressed in some new ball joints today. I can honestly say that this was not a fun job at all. I've tackled some big jobs before, but this was pure misery. The easiest part of the whole job was taking the spindle arms down to the machine shop to get the old joints knocked out. That was the best $7 I've spent this year. I used the borrowed Autozone press kit and an impact tool to drive the new ones in. They went in straight but it took several minutes of driving to get them in. The impact socket was smoking hot when I was done.

Oh, the point of the story. It was pretty dark in the shop when I was pressing the last joint in. When I heard the snap of the joint going in the last little bit, I thought in was in all of the way and packed up the press and took it back to Autozone. When I packed in the arms this evening to admire my work, I noticed that I lacked about a sixteenth of an inch of driving the joint in all of the way. Fudge, but I didn't say fudge.

Ball joints suck. Sorry, I just had to vent.

[slarson80]

My Pa only had used cars and kept meticulous care of them. Before puberty I assisted in changing out ball joints on just about all American makes. (big 3) Don't get me wrong, I loved helpin' Pa with the cars. But I always hated Ball Joints. Mainly because it was my job to hold an old axle in place (on the joint, or arm or whatever) while Pa used a sledge hammer on the other end "to loosen that sucker up".

To this day when I think of Ball Joints, I get a headache and ringing in my ears.

[signalredcoupe]

I paid a local machine shop $50 to remove & replace mine. After some time later, I noticed the driver side could've been pressed about another 1/8" in. Too late now. I don't believe it should affect alignment too much considering how old these cars are. I wouldn't worry too much about yours. Paul.

[imdavid28]

Oh my, I am going to do mine within the next few days. I didn't want to hear that...

[dannym]

What is it with people and impact guns? A pipe on the handle would have been a much better idea for more leverage.
I bet if you really cleaned that socket good, put the joint in the freezer overnight before installation and used a little light oil during installation it would have been a lot easier. This is all in the archives.

Also they are not that hard to pound out. You would have spent your $7.00 better by having a shop press them in for you.

Danny

[James L]

just did both on my W126 1984, put the spindle in the freezer for an hour along with alot of PB blaster soaking.

use a regular weight metal framming hammer, hit it in the middle of the ball joint like you are driving a nail. i discovered this after alot of big pounding with 4lb sledge and mandrel. what got it to move was the regular small metal hammer with a nice wristy blow to the middle, like driving a nail with two fingers.

as for the press in called, around and found an indy with the correct $360 press. charged me $30 for both, took 15 minutes, straight, all the way in, no taking off the boot.

[tangofox007]

Originally Posted by James L

just did both on my W126 1984, put the spindle in the freezer for an hour along with alot of PB blaster soaking.

What is the purpose of putting the spindle in the freezer?

[apache]

Originally Posted by dannym

What is it with people and impact guns? A pipe on the handle would have been a much better idea for more leverage.
I bet if you really cleaned that socket good, put the joint in the freezer overnight before installation and used a little light oil during installation it would have been a lot easier. This is all in the archives.

Also they are not that hard to pound out. You would have spent your $7.00 better by having a shop press them in for you.

Danny

Just to put the record straight for the archives, I did do all of those things. I finally had to use the impact gun because the vice could not hold the twist of the wrench.

I thought that the $7 was a bargain for pressing the joints out. I believe that I stated in my post that I took these to a machine shop. They did not want to mess with pressing them in. There are no MB dealers or indy's within 100+ miles of me, so I am on my own. I could not have completed the job without an impact gun. You tell me, what is it with people and impact guns?

[tangofox007]

Originally Posted by dannym

What is it with people and impact guns? A pipe on the handle would have been a much better idea for more leverage.

With the right press, a ten-year old with a combination wrench would have little difficulty.

[Pete Burton]

Originally Posted by tangofox007

With the right press, a ten-year old with a combination wrench would have little difficulty.

mmmmmmm. Compared to pressing in cylinder liners, those ball joints went in on my arbor press like a hot knife into butter.