Hi All!

Rebuilding front end on my 98 Blazer 4x4 4 door...have the following

Upper and Lower Ball Joints
Inner and outer tie rods w/new sleeves
Pitman arm
Idler Link Arm

Is there a specific order that I should use? Any tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

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I'd do ball joints first, probably starting with the lower( lower and then upper so one sides all done , then move to the next side).


If you take the nut off the ball joint and smack the knuckle perpendicular to the ball joint stud with a hammer the ball joint will pop right out of the hole. make sure it is solid on jackstands, and DO NOT put any part of your body under it while doing so- because it is under alot of tension from the torsion bars and will swing down very fast. Use a floor jack to press the lower control arm back up to meet the knuckle once the new ball joint is installed. Do the upper the same way.

I would do the pitman arm and idler, then the tie rods. For the pitman arm you will need a pitman arm puller to get it off the steering box. You will have to loosen the steering box to access - be prepared because it is super tight in that area. There are three 16mm bolts accessable from in the fender well that hold the steering box in.

You can use the same hammer technique to separate the tierods from the knuckles. It works for basically any tapered stud, and makes separating them a breeze

 

thnx for all the info chev! Will a 2 or 3 jaw puller work instead? As it turns out i did save the 2 "arms" to do last.

 

The pitman arm pullers are usually more compact than other types of pullers, and are able to slip in the tight slot between the steering box and pitman arm because of the way they're designed. If you can fit a 2 or three arm puller in there, it could work. But it may be worth your while to pick up an actual pitman arm puller- they aren't very costly and it will save you a headache

 

try not to mix up parts, like lay down the tie rods or the drag link on the ground exactly how you took it off as you dont put stuff on backwards (though i dont think you really can on these trucks). it just helps when you go to put stuff back together and trying to figure out what came from where

 

she's a 98 basically 20 years old and today she was definitely a she. All of the parts were original and we're so difficult. I'm so discouraged; you have to remember that she's already up on jack stands, so the on the right side the lower control arm I couldn't get it to compress so I couldn't get the hub off I couldn't get the steering knuckle off I ended up breaking the CV joint; well pulling it apart anyways...i'll get a boot kit and be ok. I soaked them; used impacts: used pullers; ended up using cut off wheel to remove lower bl jt. A friend suggested an air hammer...that got the hub to release about 2 inches. Put the 12" 3 jaw pullers back on and then they broke(borrowed from a buddy) those will cost me a pretty penny. So thats when i tried the BFH and the air hammer again and somehow i ended up with 2 .5 ft of hub, steering knuckle and shaft in my lap. And thats how it sits now...still intact; still mocking me. But hey; i did get the upper and lower bl jts in on the rt side. I released the pressure on the t bars to be able to do the lowers. I still have to get these seperated and not sure how to accomplish it yet. Giving up for 2day