A guy I know that works in a shop said I needed to replace my ball joints and tie rods but when I asked him how hard it was to do, he told me I would be better off doing it myself. If I'm not mistaken, don't you need a ball joint press for that? Is it worth buying everything and getting a couple of buddies to help me out or should I just take it somewhere to have it done?

 

Ball Joint press kit--- Harbor Freight $50
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=4065

It depends how you feel about your personal work on vehicles.
It can be a little dangerous on 4x2 trucks as you will have the potential of a loose coil spring. The 4x4 you will also need hub socket and the ability/knowledge to remove and replace the hub. BTW the 4x4 takes at least 2 times as long to replace as there is more stuff that needs to be removed and replaced.

BTW air tools help a bunch.

 

I have 4wheel drive. Does that mean it will be easier? I would like to do everything at once...maybe even throwing a spacer on there as well so I only need to get one alignment.

 

Search. This was covered not too long ago and I posted a link to a very good balljoint writeup for these trucks.

 

just to be honest you really dont want to get involved with this unless you have an air compressor and strong air tools to use the ball joint press. you cant just use hand tools or you will never get them out. as for the tie rods all you need to do is count the number of turns it took for them to come of and put the new ones on the same number of turns. but check out your brakes and all that good stuff because once its apart you'll want to put it back together the right way. and you might as well check the axle u-joints while your there too.

 

ball joints = shop

tie rods = do it yourself...I did mine for $100. Shop wanted a bit over $200

 

yeahhh.... the cheapest estimate so far is $700 just for the ball joints. Thats rough being that I am in school right now but I have to do it. What do you all think of that?

 

and i might as well buy a new set of tires well i am at it... what size should i get? I'm running 31x10.5x15 right now. can i stuff something a little bigger in there. Ive always bought Cooper tires but I'm open to something else as long as the price is reasonable

 

i'd ask to make payments on the bill. and as far as the tires go, i believe the biggest you can go with is a 32x11.50 and i wouldnt reccomend cooper tires. they wear horribly due to a soft compound. it really depends on what kind of tire you are looking for like a/t's, or highway tread, etc. kumho makes a great tire for either type. and there prices are really good. bridgestone firestone and michelin are great tires.

 

Since you appearntly didnt feel like searching for the other thread on this, here is the writeup: http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/...ljoint+writeup

You dont HAVE to have air tools, but they help. Every tool he used is listed. Do it yourself and save the money.

And if you are worried about $700 for balljoints I would say get the cheapest set of 31s you can find.

 

I already found your thread that you posted. Its really detailed so hopefully I don't have a lot of problems with it. I'm dropping it off Sunday night hopefully for new tires. I'm going to start friday as soon as i get off work hopefully.

Thanks for all of the replies

Aaron

 

Aaron--
I can only speak up about the ball joints because I recently did them on my '92 F150 2WD. It was tough but well worth it.

I "rented" a ball joint press from Autozone for $110: essentially you buy it, then return it when you're done and get full $$ back.

The tough parts were figuring out that I had to actually remove the spindle to do this job, and figuring out how to use a picklefork without tearing up any boots.

You can do it, and it is definitely worth saving the $700...

I couldn't find much useful information on the web, and the shop manual was relatively useless (except to get proper torque specs), so keep us posted. I'm willing to help if I can.

Good luck.

Shep

 

I did the same job on my 92 a couple of years ago. I did everything myself w/o special tools. Just a vice and some old bushing that my dad had left lying around in his building. I definitely would recommend a removal/installation tool, or taking it to someone who can press them out/in. Plan to check things like bearings, u-joints etc. It took a couple of trips to the parts store for me to get everything I found wrong.

You may want to consider an alignment when you get everything done, especially if you are buying new tires. Mine drives great after it all. Good luck and be careful.

 

Red--
How hard was it to press out/in the joints? The press I got from autozone worked really well, but the joints were super tight. I actually broke my 1/2 inch breaker bar trying to press the old ones out.

As I recall, the lower ball joint didn't seat all the way in--at least not as far as did the original (off by maybe 1/32 of an inch).

I didn't have any alignment trouble either; I think if you clearly mark the camber adjuster you shouldn't have any problems.

Satisfying job. Saved me almost $500.

Shep

 

By the way--I'm in Cincinnati and I actually drove to Peoria to buy my truck.

My buddy's grandpa sold it to me with 60,000 original miles for $3500!

Worth the drive.

Good luck.

Shep