first off, are the really ball joints? i assume they are and the look like they are so thats what im calling them. but anyways, my real question is how to replace them. the 2 on my passenger side NEED to be replaced so i figured i might as well replace them all. is this something i can do at my house? how do i go about doing it? My passenger side needs it really bad because with the tire off the ground i can turn the tire left and right quite a bit. so please, anyone help me. I am going to try and do that this weekend.

 

pictures??

i assume your talking about tie rods maybe?? if so all thats pretty easy to do by yourself, just need wrenches and a balljoint slitter and maybe a puller.

as for balljoints, idk if i would try to do that myself, they are pressed in (im pretty sure) and are a PAIN to get out and back in

 

btw how many miles you got on it??

 

yea lets get some pics of what your talking about but replacing the tie-rod ends or the upper and lower balljoints arent too hard a task on your truck

 

well it is raining right now so i cant get a picture but i am NOT talking about the upper and lower ball joints...it is the parts that are on the steering arms so i guess that i probably am talking about the tie rods. (sorry for my lack of terminology lol)

and as for miles, the odometer stopped at 232,xxx. haha and that was about a year ago.

 

yep you will need wrenches/impact wrench, hammer, ball joint splitter, and maybe a arm puller for the pitman arm, or the idler arm, which ever is connected to the steering box!!!

as for moving the tire with it up off the ground, are you talking about forcing it or just slack, because you can move the tire from end to end unless you move ONLY the tire and no steering components, then you MAY be looking at wheel bearing

 

no just slack...but its not the wheel bearings because the whole steering component moves...i have determined the cause, it is the connections on one of the sterring arms. i will take pictures in the morning so we can be sure im talking about the same thing. lol

 

unless does someone else have a picture of the front end of their truck and i might be able to point it out that way.

thanks for the help guys.

 

cant you check tie rods by 'trying to pull/push the joint part out of its socket' and if theres a lot of movement then theyre bad?

 

thats what i did. ^^ there is a lot of movement.

 

Tie rod ends are not difficult to change with the right tools. You will need a joint separator, sometimes called a "pickle fork", you whack it with a hammer after removing the cotter pin and nut. I'm guessing you can borrow or rent one, and even if you have to buy one, they shouldn't be that expensive. After replacement, you WILL have to get an alignment.

Example:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00994121000P

 

autozone has them as a rent-a-tool

 

here is the pictures. sorry it took so long to get them. lol

here is a close up of one of them:


at the top of this picture is the other one thats real bad. i know not the best picture but all i could do with my phone. haha

 

yep outer tie rod end, take the pit out between the nut, then take the nut off, get your ball joint splitter (pickle fork) and whack it with a hammer then just twist it out of there, make sure you measure the length of outside to the inner tie rod end, to get the alignment CLOSE, it will (as stated before) have to be re-aligned, the forks are around 20 dollars btw

 

ok so i take those pins out and take off those nuts. then that "little section" of the tie rod will come off and i can use the ball joint splitter to get the ball joint out of the little section? and how do i put a new one back in?

also does anyone know how much new ones will cost? thanks