I've heard that changing lower ball joints on a torsion bar front end is tricky. Anyone have experience in this? I've done this before on coil spring front ends but never one of these.
Thanks for your responses

 

Its simple, just time consuming. I done mine a few months ago. Whats your year and 4x4 or 4x2?

 

I did both in my truck with in my truck there not to hard its just a pain in the butt. If you don't have air tools its gonna be alittle more time consuming. If you need any help with anything pm me and i can give u the exact directions

 

Best tool to use when changing out hte lowers......a BFH.

 

Just make sure afterward to get your front end aligned.

 

Thanks for your answers. It's a '99 4x4 3.0 family runner. So, the upper bolts in and the lower gets pressed in, right? Does the torsion bar pose the same kind of problems as a coil Tspring - like when the spring flies out and goes bouncing aroud the shop? Thanks Again, guys - I will ask Scott for details when I get ready to start.

 

pretty much take everything off but the lower arm. you can keep the torsion bar in. your prob gonna need an extra hand when putting it all back together. upper arm can stay on to unless ur thinkin of changing that to.

 

The upper ball joint is not replaceable. If it's worn out, the entire upper control arm must be replaced.

 

Why? You dont change anything that would make it out of spec.

 

cause you are taking everything apart and putting new ball joints in so it is possible that the alignment angles will change. we normally do alignments on cars at work after we do anything like this.

 

To make more money for your employer? Unless your truck was aligned with your ball joints severly worn out, there should be no need to realign it.

I didn't even take my spindle off. Popped the old lower joint out, put new one in. Couple hours both sides.

Rent the ball joint press, makes life easier. I don't like whacking away at my suspension with a BFH for hours, makes me sleep uneasy at night.

 

theres a specific technique when using a BFH to complete this maint.

 

I understand that. I also know many people have successfully done this using such a method, in fact the garage down the street uses a hammer as well. But there is also a proper tool for the job which does make life easier.

To each their own.

 

That's faulty logic. When you're working on someone else's vehicle, you don't know what kind of changes have been made before you worked on it. If you don't check the alignment, then the first sign that it's not right will probably be badly worn tires and an unhappy custumer.

 

Thanks for all the discussion - I think I will rent the press...anyone have access to a digital version of the service manual?