ok heres the deal... my lower ball joint needs replacing is it better to spend the extra money on moog ball joints or can i get the cheaper ones from autozone made by dural last ..... any opinions greatly appreciated plus can i just change out that upper and lower ball joint for the one side and wait until i get the money for the other side or is that not recomended i dont have much money right now plus to boot i need a new idler arm and pitman arm so this whole ordeal is going to kill me .....

 

If you can, do it all at the same time. I know that many alignment shops say that you can get away without an alignment after balljoint changes, but if they ball joints are bad enough, they could throw things out of whack.

I have the lifetime warrantied Duralast balljoints (all 4) on my Bravada and so far (8k miles), they are doing fine.

 

yeah that whats i was thinkin say i already baught the lower ball joint from moog do you think its a bad idea to throw a duralast upper one on and do the other side in all duralast.... ?

 

Sorry I didn't get back to this... Been very busy the past week. Anyway, the lower ball joint takes a much harder beating than the upper. I wouldn't see any problem in having the duralast upper with a moog lower. Also shouldn't be a problem with all duralast (like I've got).

The first replacement is always the worst. You've got to get the rivets out that hold the factory balljoints on. It's a pain to do with a hammer and cold chisel. I should know... I had to do it all by hand on mine. Once they are bolted on, it's just an excersize in taking things apart.

 

Like swart said.
You don't need to replace them all at once, however once they are all replaced (even one at a time) they are done for a while. It would be easier to replace them as pairs at the same time on the same side.

I prefer Moog parts, am not familiar with the Duralast parts yet. Haven't used them yet, so I don't have any opinions on them.


There are some tricks to getting the original set of ball joints off.
Hammer and chisel is the most common and very effective. Air powered tools make it faster and easier, however the hand method is still effective, just tireing and can be time consuming. Heat will soften the metal, propane torch.

If you can fit a drill in there, drilling out the center of the rivets makes removal much easier.

If your going to attempt all four at once, plan on a weekend, and have a second vehicle that runs at your disposal in case you have to run for something. Like to the emergency room. See below.

Careful with that hammer, it hurts like helll when you miss the chisel and hit your hand. Only takes a couple of whacks before you get gun shy and then it takes forever to beat those rivets off. To save the hand, a pair of pliers to hold the chisel isn't a bad idea. Glooves help to protect the hands when you miss too. The biger the hammer the better, 2 pound sledge is a great choice, provided you can hammer without missing. Hint: Don't look at the rivet, look at the chisel head. You hit what you are looking at, until you learn to hammer, and then you can do it with your eyes closed.