I'm replacing the passenger side lower ball joint on my brother's 96 Blazer, and I thought it would be easy as pie...until I looked and remembered it's 4wd So, I got the axle nut off, and got this far, what's the next step? Am I going to need a 3 jaw puller to get the rest of the halfshaft out of the way so I can do this?

Here are some pics:


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Please help, I would like to have this done ASAP.

 

To make things easier, remove the tie rod end. Take the nut off and give the knuckle a smack, that should jar the tie rod loose, then just tie it out of the way.
Put the nut back on the axle shaft, use a hammer and a drift punch to start moving the axle thru the hub. That's to loosen it, you can't remove it yet.
Take the nuts off the upper and the lower ball joints, smack the knuckle with a hammer where the ball joints go thru. You should now be able to lift the upper control arm and free the knuckle from the upper ball joint.
Now you can remove the knuckle from the lower ball joint and the axle shaft.

now you can replace the ball joints.

See how easy it is in print.
I may have left a few details out such as, "grunt", "ouch", "damn" etc...

If I did miss any steps, let us know.

 

Thanks! OK, I got the tie rod end off, and the upper ball joint detatched, but I cannot for the LIFE of me get the upper tie rod to disconnect from the spindle, and that is literally the last step[:@]

 

What I did on my 99 Blazer was remove the 36mm nut, then loosen the 3 bolts that hold the hub assembly on. Then I got a punch and hammer and tapped the axle until it moved loosened up. Then I took the hub off, took the nuts off the ball joints and took the knuckle off.
I see you are in Mass too, I am just a few miles north of you.

 

I'm sorry, I had that reversed! I got the tie rod end off, it's the upper ball joint that won't disconnect from the knuckle itself, even when pounding it with the pickle fork and a BFH

Oh, and I loosened the axle, so that's all set, it's just this last step [&o]

 

I think mine came right out with the pickle fork and BFH. The lower was more of a PITA.

 

Your jackstand should be on the frame so the suspension can hang.
you might have to lift the upper control arm with a bar, turn the spindle for access, then hit where the arrow shows.
I have a picle fork and rarely ever use it.

[IMG]local://upfiles/2910/D469EC92D4E04B38A92981A6396F827F.gif[/IMG]

 

Well, after trying to get the upper ball joint off for the last 5 hours, I've given up for the day, defeated [:@]

 

Where do you have the jackstand.
Just wondering if you have the wieght off the ball joints?

 

I just replaced my lower ball joints on my 2k Blazer about month ago. I set the jack stands under frame and used a floor jack under the lower control arm to gently let it down... I had to use pickle fork to get tie rod end off and then also to get the original ball joint out of the control arm...when i removed the half shaft I left the nut on about 2-3 threads and used the handle end of a heavy hammer to move the half-shaft back out of the hub. Then removed the lower ball joint rivots by drilling small holes 1/4 way through the OEM rivots so that the heads could be drilled off. Once the heads were off used a punch to drive the body of the rivots out along with the ball joint. Had to drill out control arms for the new bolts that came with ball joints. Tightened them to torque specs and reinstalled parts the way they came off...