99 Silverado 4x4 (nbs) DIY ball joint R&R?

GnatGoSplat · July 13, 2006

I took my truck to get the front end aligned today. I was met with some bad news, both the upper and lower balljoints are shot on the driver side. My truck is a 99 Chevy Silverado (NBS) 4x4.

I would like to attempt this repair myself, but after reading the service manual, it seems a bit daunting. Service manual says the control arms have to come off, the halfshaft needs to come out, and the torsion spring needs to be removed!!!

Is there any way to R&R both the upper and lower WITHOUT removing the torsion spring, and preferably without removing the halfshaft and control arms?

I know they are pressed in, what tools can I use to get them out, and press them in? Does Harbor Freight sell what I would need? I found these tools:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=38335

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...Itemnumber=4065

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=42236

Unfortunately, I don't have air tools.

Any tips, pics, hints, or tutorials would be very appreciated. I would like to be able to fix this with minimal injuries and cussing.

asilverblazer · July 13, 2006

If you do it with the control arm on the truck, I doubt the torsion bar has to come off, same for the half shaft. You will probably need a "C-Clamp" type ball joint press with misc. cups. A seperating fork might come in handy but I think the press removes and installs.

GnatGoSplat · July 14, 2006

Yeah, I crawled under there and it looks like the balljoints could come off without pulling the control arms if I jack up on the LCA. I would still have to pull the halfshaft and hub, but that's just a bunch of bolts and doesn't look like a problem. On the plus side, there's also no rivets to drill out, at least none that I saw. Drilling out rivets on my car's balljoint with standard drill bits caused lots of cussing and wasted probably 2-days.

My main concern is being able to break the ball joints free of the knuckle and being able to get them pressed out/in.

No one here has any experience changing out the ball joints on these trucks with just hand tools?

Oh, it's no surprise the balljoint that went bad are the ones that have torn boots and don't hold grease. I noticed it 3yrs ago, but I guess I didn't grease them often enough to compensate for the grease that escaped.

GnatGoSplat · July 17, 2006

Ok, I got it done. It was easier than I thought it would be.

Embarrassingly enough, the most time consuming and frustrating part was getting the cap off the hub nut! I think I spent 3hrs trying to get that stupid thing off. After that, I jacked up on the LCA, removed the stabilizer shaft link, pulled the halfshaft, brake caliper/rotor, and was able to pop the balljoints from the spindle very easily using a screw-type puller. The screw-type puller was designed for my cars and isn't big enough for the truck, so I had to cut down the balljoint studs with an angle grinder to get it to fit. I also rethreaded the nut back on so the ball end of the tool shaft wouldn't slip off the balljoint stud. In hindsight, I should have just placed a socket on the end because that nut was hard to get off. Upper balljoint just needed to be pressed out with the C-clamp press tool. Lower balljoint I had to use the angle grinder to grind off 4-crimps, and then was able to remove it with the press tool. They both installed fairly easily with the tool. Reassembly was actually rather easy and went quickly. Only complication I had was reinstalling the halfshaft bolts. The info I had says they need to be tightened to 58 lb ft. One of them twisted and snapped off before I got to 58, and a couple other ones seemed like they were going to do the same thing. I don't know if that spec is right, or if my torque wrench is off, but I ended up just using a regular ratchet and hoping I got them tight enough.

A few other things that should probably be mentioned:

The C-clamp press tool doesn't remove the balljoints from the spindle. You have to use a pickle fork, or better yet, a screw-type puller. Only a little muscle required for the screw type puller, but I've heard of people pounding on pickle forks with sledgehammers and a balljoint not letting go.

I got the C-clamp press tool free as a loaner from O'Reilly Auto Parts so no reason to buy it. An impact wrench is probably not required, but I found it extremely handy for removing the halfshaft flange bolts, caliper bracket bolts, and hub nut. My impact is a cheap $20 one that runs off 12V that I got from Harbor Freight. It's cheap, but it works.

Anyway, that's my experience. I hope it helps someone.

asilverblazer · July 17, 2006

Could you not carefully dnagle the hub/spindle/halfshaft assembly while the joints were torn apart. I assumed they were removed since nothing was holding them except for the halfshaft into the front differential.

GnatGoSplat · July 17, 2006

The halfshaft has to come out because there is no way to get that C-clamp press on either balljoint with the halfshaft in the way. The C-clamp is HUGE.

It is really easy to remove the halfshaft though. Just remove the hub nut and flange bolts, then a couple gentle taps on the hub end loosens it from the hub. No hub puller required. Stabilizer shaft link needs to be removed to make room for the halfshaft to come out from behind.