Tools for Replacing a Ball Joint on Trucks

Series Summary

The automobile—a machine that means so much to so many—is a complex system built on the designs and ideas of men and women who are long gone from the world. And while we’ve enjoyed traveling the backroads of childhood, the streets of adolescence, and the highways of adulthood, the car has remained a reliable means of transportation, as well as a vehicle that embodies the hopes and dreams of reaching exciting new destinations, or returning home.

In this free video series our expert, Nathan McCullough, will walk you through every step of changing a ball joint yourself on your truck. Why go to a mechanic and pay huge amounts of money for something you can do yourself. Use these videos as a guide as you remove the brakes and the caliper and reach the ball joint. There will be not extra pieces lying around when you are done if you are using these videos. Our expert will make sure every piece gets back to where it should go.

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Nate McCullough on behalf of Expert Village. In the following clips we're going to talk about the correct procedure for replacing your upper and lower ball joints on a two wheel drive, full sized vehicle. In this clip we're going to talk about the tools required and the parts necessary to replace your upper and lower ball joints on a two wheel drive, full sized vehicle. What I have here in my lap is my four way. It's used for breaking lose the lug nuts on your tire. What I have here is my jack stand. It's a safety device. We're going to be doing a little bit of horsing around on the vehicle so we're going to want to make sure we have a stable surface for it to sit on. That's what we got the jack stand for. Up in front, in these small packages, we have our lower ball joints with the retaining nuts and hardware inside. We got one more for the other side of the vehicle. We have the upper control arm, ball joint assembly. As you can see, it's quite the device. Like I said, it's an upper control arm ball joint assembly. This here is the joint itself. This is the control arm and these are the control arm bushings. The other side is virtually identical, with a few minor differences. As you can see, this has an "R" on it. That's going to indicate that it's the right or passenger side of the vehicle. You don't want to get these mixed up. That will throw your alignment off drastically. It is possible to install the wrong one on the wrong side. From there I have my standard and metric socket set, along with a couple other extras I have added in, in the empty space. I have my ball joint pickle fork. It also works on tie rod ends and my heavy duty hydraulic floor jack. Of course, a ball joint press which is what we're going to use to change this guy. As you can see there's a particular difference between the lower ball joint and the upper ball joint control arm assembly. The control arm assembly has the ball joint already pressed in it. Right there, so you can see the comparison. It's already pressed in, assembled from the factory and you purchase it as one piece. That makes it so the ball joint on the upper side will bolt in through your control arm bushing holes. This one has no mounting bolts. So you can see its splined here. You can see the ribs and teeth on here. What that is going to do is squeeze into the lower control arm of your vehicle. In order to do that on a full sized vehicle, your going to want to get a ball joint press. It's not necessary to purchase one. You can go to your local parts store and rent one. They'll actually give it to you for free for the cost of it. When you return it back in good shape, they'll give you your money back."