97 T100 4x4 V6

Please excuse me if my terminology is not in place some times.


Purchased parts on line at Conicelli Parts Center
Part#
Lower Driver side: 43340-39245
Lower Passenger side: 43330-39835

Passenger side part # use to be different (43330-39315) and that was on my order, but supplier replaced it with above.
List price for both about $62.00, I paid $47.99 each (MUST order on line for discount price),
No tax (out of state purchase), plus 8.25 shipping.

Local Toyota dealership quoted me about $62.95 for each.
So, buying on Line saved me about $29.00 on two lower ball joints.

Taking advice from a post on this forum I put a spacer between upper arm and stopper.
Unfortunately all I could fit there was ¥ inch plywood. Not much of a gain but hey.
Then lift the truck and secure it on the stand, remove the wheel (I did one at the time).

Fist step remove the pin from under the nut on the ball joint.
I immediately run into trouble. After few pokes with hammer I have squashed the straight end of a pin and it did not move. Then IÆve spend almost an hour trying every trick I could think off.
The only reason I finally succeeded was using plenty of WD-40 like foam spray from Advance.
There was a river of rust flowing from there. I kept spraying every few minutes for the next twenty.
Finally, I cut out the squashed end of a pin and using a nail punched out the pin a little bit. It was enough to grab it and pull it out. So, small advice here, lubricate it plenty before pulling a pin out. Give it some time to loosen up.
Second on this. I went for an alignment next day to a local shop specializing in suspension problems.
MechanicÆs advice on this is to use a huge wrench and a pipe and just pull a nut through the pin.
You do not worry about anything, these parts are getting replaced.
Professional air gun should manage with no problem.

Next disconnect (separate) an old ball joints from the arm.
I had used a small pitman arm puller from a set rented from Advance Auto Parts store.
Using just a fork as some mechanics recommend may not work.
IÆve had try it before using a puller with no results.

Next unbolt Lower ball joint. Spray plenty of lubricant between upper surface of it and a mount surface on the hub assembly let it sit. Then using a big flat head screwdriver and hammer separate it.
Pulling a ball joints out was a little bit hard, but using a 2x4 gave me enough room for pulling it out.

Next step: bolt a new ball joint in. ThatÆs easy as hub assembly sways both ways and there is plenty of access for those for bolts. But then I hit a wall. There no way I can put the ball joint stud in the lower arm. I spent quite some time trying to lift upper arm little bit higher (remember this ¥ inch spacer under upper arm? Apparently that was not enough). Then in desperation I decided on disconnecting a stabilizer bar link (10 minutes), and disconnecting a shock absorber û lower bolt û (2 minutes). After that everything becomes EASY.
Just push lower arm down and put an appropriate spacer on it for keeping it down (it springs back by the torsion bar). With that extra separation between upper arm and lower arm putting everything back is like working with Lego û no struggle at all.
I used this way when doing the other side û no problem and fairly quickly.


One more advice from a mechanic: when tightening up a lower ball joint nut go as hard as you can.
Use long wrench and a pipe extension. DonÆt go creasy but make it tight.
I thought I have it tight. I asked about it during alignment. The mechanic went at least half a turn more on each side (hand wrench first and then with pipe extension).


Greasing zerk: I tried putting a right angle greasing zerk on the old joint when I had it hand.
When it was tight its position was wrong, there would be access problem to it later.
I tried to rotate it about 30 degrees more and this thing broke off like nothing.
So, the question here is how do you go on positioning a greasing zerk û leave it loose? Where do you buy good ones?
IÆve purchased mine in Advance Auto.
And of cource: how do you remove that broken off zerk part?


I hope this helps another first time lower ball joint replacement.


Thanks

Good write up.

I did not see the pry-out notch for the lower ball joints. I beat them out with a hammer from the bottom, which destroys them if you ever want to use them again.

I got stainless zerks from McMaster-Carr. I had Advance zerks on my old ball joints. I found that you have to be extremely careful to put the zerk in straight if you do it with the joint on the truck. It's very hard to line up and the ball joint steel is soft. You can use some sealer like avation form-a-gasket, the brown tar stuff. It's a tapered thread so it will get tighter as it goes in further. It's also possible to pull the threads out of the ball joint if you overtighten the zerk.

A screw extractor should get the zerk out of your old BJ.

Use a small screw extractor to get the broken zerk piece out.
That's what I do for the drive shaft slip yoke zerk that always gets broken off when 4wheeling.