How to Install a Truck's Lower Ball Joint

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 size vehicle. In this clip, we're going to talk about the proper way to set up your ball joint press for reinstallation of your new ball joint. It's going to vary a little bit from what we use the driving screw to push the ball joint out of the control arm. We're going to use the ball joint drive screw to push down on the control arm and pull the ball joint up through the bottom. It's going to require a little different set up than what you used to push the ball joint out of. What I have here is a driving cup. We're going to set it above our hole. I have a receiver cup, which I'm using to drive on the shoulder of the ball joint. You're going to want to make sure your kit is going to come with several different size cups. You're going to want to make sure that you use the appropriate one to fit the shoulder of your ball joint. And I have a through cup, which my ball joint stud will sit in so we don't damage the threads. I'm going to slide my ball joint up into the hole, give it a little wiggle, make sure it's centered. You're going to want to make sure that you start pressing the ball joint in as a centered piece. Once you have your sandwich made, it's going to look just like so. What we're doing is applying force down here, and that's going to bring the press portion up and squeeze our ball joint into the control arm. That is the proper way to set up your ball joint for driving the joint into the control arm from the bottom. The same set up will be used, however, exactly backwards, if your snap ring was located on the bottom of the control arm instead of the top."