Offset Ball Joint or not?

[JoergM]

Another quick update.

I got my ball joints as well as a new wheel hub. I disassembled everything yesterday but still need to get out the lower ball joint. This mofo sits as tight as my grandma on her money. So tight that I even bended the ball joint replacement tool.

Added some WD40 and let it soak over the next couple of days since I am off to Sydney anyway.

I could see that they lower ball joint is absolutely wasted so Jason, I am pretty sure that you where right in the first place. I also decided to turn this in a general overhaul of my front suspension, including differential clean up and oil exchange (when I took the axle out I could see some sand around the end where you hook it into the differential - not sure how this is called though), rust removing and painting, wheel hub and ball joint replacement. I have a U-joint axle conversion and replacement spicer but these seem to be still in pretty good shape, so will skip those for now.


Really looking forward to put everything together and take the Jeep for his first ride.

Will let you know when everything is back together.

Thanks
Joerg

[Straubz]

A small tip on loosening the bottom balljoint, get 2 big hammers, hold one against one side and hit the opposite side with the other, it works some times.

if you have a small hydraulic ram you could borrow the tool i made.

[JoergM]

Thanks Straubz, will give it a swirl on Thursday when I am back home. Unfortunately I do not have such hydraulic ram so I have to stick with what I got for now.

[bodgie]

Originally Posted by Straubz

A small tip on loosening the bottom balljoint, get 2 big hammers, hold one against one side and hit the opposite side with the other, it works some times.

if you have a small hydraulic ram you could borrow the tool i made.

Loading up the press and shocking the balljoint out is the only way you'll get it out easily.

Can be a bugger of a job.

Definitely sounds like you've found the source of the problem.

Jason

[Grippy]

Even a 3 jaw puller will do them, but they are a bitch.
The top one comes out easily enough, but the bottom one will require you to load up the press or puller and give it some nice hard love taps, I had to use a large sledge.

Sent from my SM-T530 using Aussie Jeep Offroad mobile app

[JoergM]

I finally got it out.

As always it works if you actually use the right tool, but still broke my breaker bar (now I know why they called breaker bar) and I bended my ball joint removal.

I made the mistake NOT to use a small interface to actually distribute the weight of the removal tool to the outer rims of the joint but just use the tool itself which put all the load to the center of the ball joint.
Once done right I heard a loud crack and it move finally down.

I will now clean everything up, remove rust, paint it and put it back together.

Thanks anyway for all your tips.

[JoergM]

Another quick update: Its now my second week I am trying to get rid of my wobbly wheels.
Since I mentioned that i want turn this into a general overhaul of my front suspension, I also wanted to change the oil and gasket of my front differential (Dana 30).
As if I do not have enough issues with this car already it turned out that the diff. case had a leak and the differential carrier started to rust as well as some spots of the bearings and even the air locker.

Found that out on Thursday and for a short moment I really thought of stopping everything, take the jeep apart and sell everything individually got get me another car with less maintenance.

I slept one night and then just thought "f&*$ it". I have already invested quite some times and have plenty of spare parts to put inside which would be a shame.

So I swallowed the bitter pill and decided to add another week to make sure the differential is going to be OK. Don't really want to get into trouble once I am somewhere off road.

Good things is that ball joints on the passenger side are also gone and as on the driver side the lower ball joint was absolutely wasted. It all make sense now and I really believe my jeep will run like a charm once everything is back together. Not sure when this is going to happen but I am still confident that I can do that within the next 2 weeks.
I also de-rusted my knuckle, axle and caliper. will post a picture once all is done.