UnrulyNFS

Guess I'm glad that I'm putting in solid axle free spin hubs.

Raspy

BKC has it right.

Put some serious pressure on the ball joints then a good smack with a five pound hammer gets them moving. Be sure to line up the grease fittings correctly as you go back together.

A big HD vise is a must! I broke a very nice and fairly heavy vise I've had for years doing mine. So I went and got an 8 inch Wilton. I prefer the vise method or hydraulic press for the U joints because it's tricky pushing them home without the needles falling over and then having to pull them back apart. Be careful as you go so you don't damage them.

If you have to press in the wheel studs for the hub kit, You can do it on the garage floor concrete with steel blocks supporting the flange next to the stud hole. Then, with a big drift punch or steel 1" rod, you can pound them in with the 5 pounder. It's brutal and you must use steel supports so there is no give.

Don't forget to get the hub nut socket from your 3/4 inch set before you start or you can't even start. I though it would be real easy to break that nut by standing on the breaker bar and doing a little bouncing. Well, it broke loose all right and I ended up flat on my a$$ with a sprained ankle to keep me company all weekend as I did the work! Nice start.

I did the whole thing in a weekend and it worked out fine even though I was limping around and muttering new words.

BKCBUILDER

Puller is an OTC 6290 available on e-bay from USA Warehouse for $75, it locks onto 4 of the wheel studs and pushes on the axle shaft to pull the bearing out of the knuckle....good thought.

I agree on the pushing the caps on the u-joint with a vise(I use a 12 ton press from Harbor Freight) but for removal, I use the socket and BFH method.

The nut on the axle is 1-11/16" and is torqued to 263 Ft/lbs....so figure on a 3/4" torque wrench also. First you torque to 132 ft/lbs, spin the tire 5-10 times to seat the bearing, then torque to 263 ft/lbs.

I think the only other annoyance I ran into was on the driver side upper ball joint nut. It spun the ball, so I put a hex wrench in it, but it was still pretty siezed, and since you can only use a 12" box wrench in combo with the hex to hold it...not much leverage, so I got out the smoke wrench and cherried it up and it spun off easy.

I used Moog ball joints and Precision u-joints all greasable and all warrantied for life(I plan on using this feature) ,90 degree grease fittings on the bottom ball joints pointing just in from straight ahead....and make sure your u-joint zerks are on the inward facing sides of the joints also.

Good luck...let us know how it comes out.

My Dodge dealer wanted $1200 without bearings and no guarantee they wouldn't break them and up the price for the added labor and parts. So it was a wash for me. Brian

spooled05

Well im from texas and tackled this job,balljoints,u joints in one day by myself! Everything came right apart! So i guess it does matter where u are from on how hard it is to get everything apart,Zack

Mocho

When I went to the dealer curious as to what they want it was $400 for ball joints and 8 hours labour at $130 per hour that was at a discount! I'm not sure if i'm going to tackle them myself, have connections to a dealership mechanic who will do them on a weekend for $50 an hour, hard to struggle with them when I could work 2 days and almost make what it will cost me to get them done.

UnrulyNFS

WOW!! Great info guys!!

I hate letting people work on my truck because I want to know its done right. Plus, I can upgrade to better parts and buy the tools needed with what labor cost.

How much are the lower ball joints?

Keegan

booman70

Did my axle u joints and getting the hub assembly was the biggest pia and i had soaked them for at least a week I wound up using the power steering method after bending a friends puller a couple times without even budging the bearing and I plow lots of snow

UnrulyNFS

What's the power steering method?

UnrulyNFS

Well, I've got a spyntec kit along with some of those real expensive upper balljoints on the way. Not looking forward to the work, but hoping for good results.

cminzey

Getting the hubs off without damage to the bearing are easy and you won't have to buy new hubs just use the sterring wheel and a long rod on the bolts to the hub comes rt off and there is no banging with a hammer did the ball joints on a 03 4x4 2500 2 hrs a side not counting new u joints

UnrulyNFS

I'm sorry, but my brain must not be functioning well tonight. What do I do with the long rod and steering wheel now??

cminzey

If you put a the rod on the hub spindle bolts and use the steering wheel and turn the front end you will work the hub off with outdamge to your bearings or hub the steering pressure is enough to push the hub off if you work both sides back and fourth

tauberson

OK, I just went to local shop today for rotate balance and alignement. Guess what 49,589 miles and all ball joints are shot. Not real happy. Was quoted $958 for parts and labor. Parts were OEM. I have never put ball joint on or helped on any car. My buddy has on a few older cars. Can someone give me some more detail on the steering wheel method?

Also, anyone interested in signing up for a class action law suit? There are to many forums and post on each about this for someone to dismiss it as luck of the draw and or a Monday/Friday truck. It has been an issue that has not been addressed and I for one don't feel l should have to pay for the lack of engineering from Dodge.

Diesel Doc

It's not just dodge it is ford also. You have to remember these axles are built by someone else and shipped to dodge. It is however dodge's fault for not specing a heavier axle.

UnrulyNFS

I got my ball joint kit from harbor freight today.


Still don't understand what the rod trick is, but hoping to figure it out when the time comes.

What does the rod attach to or press against other than the hub spindle bolts?