I recently had the opprotunity to change my Ball Joints as my 1999 Blazer ZR2 just hit 80,000 miles. Some of you have a garage, some of you have the tools, some may have both, some may have neither. You must determine what your time is worth, the cost of parts and tools vs. having a shop do it in the $700 - $1500 range. I have the 4WD model so your installation may differ on a 2WD vehicle.

You probably wouldn't be reading this if you have not determined that your ball joints are bad so lets get into it.

Parts you will need are the ball joints. This is an area where you do get what you pay for. There is no perfect joint that lasts forever, but everyone agrees that the best that is on the market right now is the Moog 'problem solver' series. The replacment joints will come with the required mounting hardware.

Upper Ball Joint: K5320
Lower Ball Joint: K5335

You will need 2 each. Expect to pay about $260 for the complete front end set of 4. I recommend you replace all 4 joints now to avoid problems and extra labor in the future. If you replace just the lowers, the uppers are not far behind.

On to the tools stage. You will need:

1/2" drive 36mm deep well 'Axle Hub Socket', some people suggest 35mm works better. $30
Titanium el-cheapo drill bit set with 1/8", 1/4" and 1/2" - $10
21/64" carbide high speed metal drill bit. - $10
Drill - $20
3 claw pully remover - $25
18" Long 1/2" drive breaker bar, longer the better - $25
1/2" drive torque wrench - $75
Chisel and Punch set - $25
Mini Sledge hammer (BFH) - $10 - $20
'Pickle Fork' - $15
Strong penetrating oil or PB-blaster - $10
SUV size jack stands and hydralic jack - $75
Standard size hydralic jack - $25
Star lug nut wrench - $10
White or yellow wax pencil - $1
An assortment of box wrenches and sockets and other hand tools. Notable sizes are 7/16", 1/2", 18mm, 3/4" and 7/8"

Put 4WD into 4LO. Place the parking brake on and chalk the rear wheels. Center the steering wheel and with wax pencil trace the front wheels onto the concrete. Break the nuts on the wheel. Elevate the wheel and and remove it. Soak all the nuts with penetrating oil, wait a half hour and hit 'em again.

Remove the brake caliper. This will require an 18mm box wrench on the upper bolt, tap with sledge hammer on side of wrench if nessacary to free the bolt. You can use the breaker bar on the lower bolt.



Use a milk crate or other soild object to support the brake caliper out of the way. Remove the brake disc, you may have to use fine needle nose pliars or heavy wire cutters to remove the retaining ring from the wheel studs before the disc will come off.

Place a jack under the lower support arm and jack it up until the control arm comes up about 1/2". This is to take the presure of the torsion bar when the steering knucle is removed.

Disengage the CV joint from the wheel hub. Using the 36mm nut and breaker bar on the axle hub nut. You may have to stand on the bar to get enough torque. The engine will have to be running as well or the hub will not lock and the wheel will just spin. The opposite side tire must also be on the ground.



Remove ABS sensor from wheel hub using metric allen wrench (sorry didn't get the size) and remove retaining clip from upper ball joint using 10mm box wrench. Tuck sensor up and out of the way.

Place the 3 jaw pully remover on the hub with the center into the CV joint and crank away. With the CV joint in free run remove the three 18mm bolts securing the hub to the steering knucle (it's the big metal frame that the hub is attached to.) You may have to use the box wrench and sledge depending on the size of your socket. Remove the hub and optional splash plate and set them aside.

With needle nose pliars and wire cutters, remove the cotter pins from ball joint castle nuts. Loosen nuts. Some people remove nuts completely, others only unthread the nut only half way to maintain a safety factor. For me the nut sizes on the replacements are 7/8" lower and 3/4" for upper. It should be 22mm for the stock ball joints.

With a paper towel remove the bulk of grease from the steering tie end. Using wax pencil place alignement marks onto the threading and tie rod adjustment shaft. Remove adjustment shaft by loosening adjustment shaft tensioners using 13mm box wrench and socket. Do not remove tie rod from steering knucle end.

Starting with the top, Place 'pickle fork' between steering knuckle and ball joint, this gap will have a rubber boot and lots of grease. Hammer on the end of pickle fork with sledge hammer until ball joint disengages from steering knucle. Do not hammer on the sides of the pickle fork, it may snap. Hammer on the end only, it will come eventually. Repeat procedure for lower joint. Place pickle fork through the slot in the steering knucle to access the joint.

At this point you should inspect the steering knucle for signs of wear, The Moog installation sheet will offer diagrams. If the hole is too far out of round or the ball joint snaped off in the hole you must replace the knucle.

Procedure is same for upper and lower here. Using a pointed punch and sledge hammer place an indentation in the center of each rivet holding the ball joints to the frame. Using 1/8" drill bit create pilot holes. about 1/4" deep into rivets. Spraying oil on the rivets occasionally will minimise wear on bits. Using 1/2" drill bit drill the heads off of the rivets. Using a punch and sledge hammer, pop rivets out of the holes. A tappered punch with a point seems to work better than a flat punch.

Using a chisel pop the upper ball joint from the frame. Hit the lower ball joint stud with hammer until it pops from frame if it is stuck. Enlarge lower ball joint rivet holes using 21/64" bit. Do not enlarge upper ball joint holes. Clean metal shavings from work site using shop vac.

Place supplied zerk fittings onto ball joints as per Moog installation sheet. Use 3/8" box wrench. Lower ball joints are self tapping and upper ball joints are threaded. Do final tighting when ball joint installed in car for alignment purposes.

Install lower ball joint and grease boot with supplied hardware using 1/2" socket and box wrench, install bolts from underside up and nuts on top with tappered side of nut up. Using a torque wrench tighten bolts to 25 ft lbs. Using 3/8" wrench, rotate zerk fitting to desired angle, I choose straight up.

On the upper joint side Place rubber grease boot into metal holder supplied. The upper ball joint goes into the frame while the boot with metal holder comes in from underneeth. Secure using supplied hardware, 7/16" socket and box wrench. Bolts from underside up and nuts on top. Just like the lower ball joint. Torque these nuts to 12 ft lbs. Using 3/8" wrench align zerk fitting to desired angle, straight forward or back for me.

Clean and regrease the steering kncule and install onto ball joints. Tighten lower nut using 7/8" socket to 85 ft lbs. Then tighten with box wrench until hole lines up to next notch and install cotter pin. Tighten upper nut using 3/4" socket to 55 ft lbs if you can find a way to get the torque wrench in there, I had to use a box wrench with 55 lbs of force, plus a little to align the cotter pin hole.

Put everything back together in the order it was removed, do not forget any parts...

I couldn't fit a torque wrench on the 18mm nuts, so got them Good and Tight (tm) with the box wrench and gave em a tap extra with the sledge.

There is some debate over the torque of the axle nut. The factory service manual and Chilton book call it at 103 ft lbs. The Moog sheet and some other people call it 180 ft lbs. I went with the book on this one.

 

cool thanks i had a friend who needed this

 

thats not the end of the how-to, is it?

 

seems like a lot of the older posts were crippled by the character limit cap in the new site design. you still come across a few of these from time to time.

**edit** you joined in '06. sorry to point of the obvious.

 

ya, i remember that, just figured it would be all fixed up by now.....

and ya, im an old timer here....at the ripe age of 23

 

I am fixing them from my records as they pop up. I just fixed this one what I could. The pictures must have been added after the initial post (which is all that I have record of).

 

you can break the axle nut loose by putting a sewdriver down in to the caliper and slots of the breaks, but if you want the engine running and the in four low go ahead. My opinion is if you want to replace ball joints go ahead and replace tie rod, pitman and idler arm. there are some good deals on ebay for complete kits, inner/ outter tie rods, pitman, idler, tie rod sleeves, ball joints. sway bar links. for about $140 its not MOOG its OE brand, all with a one year warrenty. If one component is wore down most likely its putting pressure on the others. Do it all at once or go back and do some more later, buying all the parts in that kit saved me a lot from buying piece by piece from parts stores, probably spent less than half for the kit. ball joints at part store s will cost almost 140 for OE

 

i was quoted $30 for cheap ones and around $80 for the better one....i believe.

 

First off hello to everybody. Owner of a '97 4x4 s10 Blazer here.

Just got into replacing all ball joints on my Blazer and am stuck on the first one as I cannot get the front left wheel from rotating 360 degrees. As you can imagine this makes it very difficult to remove the axle nut, so what I am looking for is some advice, or pointers. I have the parking brake engaged and also have it in 4 lo as suggested here, what am I missing? Thank you in advance.

 

Put the brakes back on and stick a pry bar between the fins in the brake rotor. Rotate it around until it hits the caliper bracket and then remove the axle nut.