Official Lower Ball Joint Write Up Thread
- Thread starter shootmymime
- Start date
Yep, it really it's a basic wrench job. Take your time. Get some good jack stands and a good jack. You'll want a breaker bar and a torque wrench. I went ahead and did both sets of tie rod ends and I'm glad I did.
Apply liberal amounts of pb blaster to the bolts you'll be needing to remove.
kurticus91
New member
Wish I would have replaced my tie rods when I did my LBJs. I replaced my LBJ's while installing my OME lift. I took my 4R to get an alignment afterwards and they couldn't get the tie rod nuts loose. So now I'm waiting on some new inners and outers to get here so I can replace them and get a proper alignment done :frusty:
Yep, so truth be told I couldn't that nut off my inners and outers but I could get the inners off so I just replaced both. I tried pb blaster, heat, pipe wrenches, those mofos weren't moving. So I just unscrewed the inners and replaced it all. another $60 but no regrets.
4Runnin2000
New member
What he said! I tried using just the pickle fork for the tie rod end. Wasn't happening. Went to O'Reilly and rented the tie rod puller. Second side took me maybe 30 minutes to do outer tie rod and lbj. Mainly because of the weird stuff I had to do to jack in up and put it on jack stands. Another story for another time. Definitely get the tool though. And the pickle fork for the lbj. 11 bucks at autozone.
kurticus91
New member
Exactly what I will end up doing. I took my truck to a good auto shop and they encountered the exact same problem. They tried PB blaster, heating it with a blow torch, etc., and it wouldn't budge.
My first attempt failed pretty early since I couldn't get the OTRE to separate from the ball joint. I will try again tomorrow once I get what I hope is the right sized puller. I tried 2 that wouldn't fit already and made no progress with just the hammer.
My question is that I tried to be careful on the OTRE boot but I still had a decent amount of grease come out of it. Is that OK or did I destroy them? They don't look busted or torn but I wasn't sure if the grease meant they were. I'm very new to this so I apologize if this is a stupid question.
My question is that I tried to be careful on the OTRE boot but I still had a decent amount of grease come out of it. Is that OK or did I destroy them? They don't look busted or torn but I wasn't sure if the grease meant they were. I'm very new to this so I apologize if this is a stupid question.
shootmymime
New member
When you get it out of the ball joint you can throw some grease in there. But honestly I wouldn't worry very much.
Take a large hammer. (Sledge hammer). And give the ball joint housing a good hard smack. It will drop the otr out.
You got this man!
Thanks buddy. I will try again tomorrow with a bigger hammer (mine was a 32 oz dead blow). Also should I have the jack or one of the stands under the lower control arm? Right now I have them on the frame but am second guessing if it would be helpful since that would add pressure.
shootmymime
New member
No you don't need anything supporting the Lowe control arm. Smack it and it should drop right out of you hit it hard enough. Metal hammer. No plastic or rubber. SMACK IT
What kind of grease would be best for the OTRE's? I couldn't find anything definitive from a search for that.
shootmymime
New member
Any type of grease. It's not a real flexing joint that needs good grease. It does not get hot. The grease is mainly to keep water out from rusting.
So same stuff you grease your drive shaft, trailer bearing, your wife at night, the sway bar bushings. Take your pick.
Thanks again. I think I'm going to have to replace them anyway. They dropped straight down and gave no resistance at all when I moved them. From what I've read, I'll have to replace inners and outers both it seems. I'm definitely not excited about that but assumed it would probably be the case. Anyone have a good thread or tutorial that's pretty accurate? I watched on for a Taco already that says it will be very similar.
On the plus side, I got the lower ball joints on thanks to your advice and a cheap 3lb hammer. My only concern was that the torque specs were different in about every tutorial I read as well the official torque specs on this site for the castle nut on the LBJs.
Just finished doing mine! Some thoughts / lessons-learned:
-Break loose the 4 LBJ bolts before removing tie rod end and LBJ castle nut. Otherwise the hub will be moving around while you try to unscrew them.
-Outer tie rod ends were stuck BAD. No amount of smacking would get them loose. Here's what ended up working in the end:
http://i.imgur.com/Zxl8vlu.jpg[/img]
1- Autozone tie rod puller (part 27022), which needed to be ground to fit around tie rod end (see image).
2- Heat female side of TRE with torch
3- Squirt PB blaster
4- Tighten puller
Two rounds of this got the tie rod off.
-Autozone Pittman puller (part 27016) was needed to get LBJs loose. These weren't stuck nearly as bad as the TRE's, but still too stuck for hammering alone.
-Break loose the 4 LBJ bolts before removing tie rod end and LBJ castle nut. Otherwise the hub will be moving around while you try to unscrew them.
-Outer tie rod ends were stuck BAD. No amount of smacking would get them loose. Here's what ended up working in the end:
http://i.imgur.com/Zxl8vlu.jpg[/img]
1- Autozone tie rod puller (part 27022), which needed to be ground to fit around tie rod end (see image).
2- Heat female side of TRE with torch
3- Squirt PB blaster
4- Tighten puller
Two rounds of this got the tie rod off.
-Autozone Pittman puller (part 27016) was needed to get LBJs loose. These weren't stuck nearly as bad as the TRE's, but still too stuck for hammering alone.
I plan on lifting my runner within the next few months. Right now I'm doing some research. Im never MOD my vehicles, but i put on slightly bigger tires and Im getting a little rub. I just want to lift it enough to look a little better and get rid of the rub. Im at 150K I figure I might as well swap out my LBJ while I have the lift installed (Icon). There are some gorgeous rides on this forum!
Anyway, glad I found this thread! Thanks for posting all the useful info.
Anyway, glad I found this thread! Thanks for posting all the useful info.
mtbtim
Elite Member
Thanks for the write-up on this. I used your thread and a couple videos on YouTube as a reference. It wasn't a hard job at all. [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] and I videoed the removal and replacement and we'll be posting it soon. If you don't mind, I'll post it on your thread too so more people will find it since your thread comes up on the first page on a Google search.
mtbtim
Elite Member
Here's the video:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bfLvtEnX9qk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
shootmymime
New member
Have you guys looked at them? It is possible to drill, tap the oem ones for zurk fittings?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
