About to start buying parts to overhaul the front. Moog lower ball joints, upper control arms, inner and outer tie rod ends. Never done inners before, is there a special tool that I need to get? Also putting in 5100 level shocks. Any advice is welcome.

Looking for new tires at same time. Currently have Nitto trail grappler 35s on 20x10s. I don't "need" mud tires although it's all I've ever had. I don't care for these tires so do y'all have any recommendations for a decent set. All I do is street driving but don't want to get caught out if we ever go camping or move out of state to the country next year.

Thanks.

 

Well I just finished doing the same thing a few months ago. I rented the inner tie rod tool but it didn't fit. I ended up using a set of channel locks and that worked perfect. I would recommend spraying down all the nuts and bolts you plan on taking off the night before with WD-40 or something to help make the process easier. Also if you use the search function there's quite a bit of people who've gone through the same process that have left some great tips.

 

Thanks. I've been searching and reading before I tackle it. I've been wrenching on cars for 39 years but have not done one of these yet.

Looks like I'll be adding gear sets and axle rebuilds to my list. The po for some ungodly reason has 355 front gears and 373 rear gears. No wonder it locked up when I put it in 4x4. Also the whine I thought was from the trans I just verifies as being the rear end howling. I should have known when I changed the axle oil by its condition. My list seems to be non ending. Lol. The wife will not like me when I hand her the parts cost

 

I've replaced everything in my front end. its all pretty straight forward and easy. Lots of YouTube videos out there to help.

You can get an inner tie rod tool from a parts store (just have to make sure it'll fit) and you'll also need a ball joint press for the lower bjs. Also, parts stores loan those out as well.

The drivers side took me about 6 hours and the passenger side took a little over an hour. Needless to say, I did everything the wrong way on the drivers side and had learned from my mistakes by the time I get to the other side.

Moog stuff is great. Just make sure to grease the parts every oil change.

 

I just finished rebuilding the front of mine yesterday. Nothing too complicated, just a little time consuming. I bought replacement bushings forthe LCA's but the shop could on get two of them replaced as they were evidently a big pita. The OEMs felt tight but I was gonna replace them anyway while I had the front tore down. 163k on mine.