Vannin' Home Forums Dodge How To (Dodge) Quick, cheap, easy ball joint replacement 83 b-150?

Working on my brother's 83 Dodge shorty van. He needs upper and lower ball joints on both sides. Anybody have any tips or trick to make this less painfull? Do I really have to pull the lower control arm?

Thanks.

Don't pull your lower control arm too much! They say it'll make ya go blind!

i had upper and lower done on my 86 dodge, plus front end alignment for $500 three years ago. so i understand why you want to do it yourself.

Nice one catfish.... "It's like a baby's arm holding an apple!" ;)

I think i am just going to have a shop do the uppers tomorrow and call it good. I am in the middle of yet another free major tune-up for my brother and I need to be working on other things. The lowers look okay, but the uppers are definitely gone.

The uppers are threaded and can be a real pain in the arse. That's why I don't do balljoint work...I let someone else feel the pain.

They are a pain to get out. There is a special soket that is really hard to find and is very expensive if you can find it. When I changed them in Lions den, I had to heat the control arm with a torch also, even with the socket. It is nearly impossible to get anything else on the ball joint to get them out.

I think I actually have the special socket buried somewhere in my garage, but I am loaning my air compressor out to my great uncle so he can do some roof work. No air hammer for me. If the local Napa has the upper joints in stock then I might just do it myself. I will just dig out my four foot cheater bar!

Four foot cheater bar + Hulk Hogan.

If you leave the arm on the van and use a 4' cheater bar it may come out. The last time I did a set I made the mistake of removing the arm from the van first. I was changing the bushings too. I almost ripped my workbench off the wall.