Ball joint question..

Atsah

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Hey guys, I have a ball joint that's gone so I figured I would just replace all four.. NAPA sells them all for $95.00 with grease fittings.. My question is, do I need to align it when I'm done? I don't do much frontend work.. Thanks in advance..
 

Cobra 19 & 54

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Good price, the ones I'm lookin at from Dynatract are like $600 for all 4. Hopefully TANK see this and will chime in if they're worth a chit...
 

yeehaw

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we have done some basic alignments in the driveway with masking tape on the tires and a tape measure. Usually can work to adjust to get it pretty damn close

edit: nevermind 95 for all four sounds more correct LOL thought it said a peice, i had to quick look it up here at work to go WTF
 
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Atsah

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hey atsah what year is your truck?

we have done some basic alignments in the driveway with masking tape on the tires and a tape measure. Usually can work to adjust to get it pretty damn close

03 CCLB dually 4x4
 

abbottfarms

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Mark, I would, because the 100+/- bucks the alinement costs is far less then a new set of sneakers for the ol' girl.
 
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yeehaw

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probably best to take it to a firestone or a tires plus, some of the corner shops might not be able to figure out alignment on a fat lady
 

Atsah

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probably best to take it to a firestone or a tires plus, some of the corner shops might not be able to figure out alignment on a fat lady

We have a guy in town that has a bunch of 1 ton Ford wreckers and he has a rack.. I'll give him a ring when I'm done wrenching..
 

bad moose

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Not that I've seen. But it's pretty straight forward. Just be sure to mark the depth and then count threads. It'll get you close then goto the alignment shop. They'll get it right for you.
 

wildstang3

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You can set the toe pretty close with a tape measure and taking a rough measurement on the front and back of the tire (set the front 1/16 further in then the back, but then get right to the alignment shop, We did some testing (took alignment before work was done) then after we got done replacing balljoints and putting the stock essentric back in (there is only one way the stock essentric goes back in because it has a lock tab to keep it in place) then we realigned it and the readings are completely different. Alignments are cheap, tires arn't!
 

Mdub707

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Yeah I would pay to have the alignment done, that doesn't bother me. Just don't want to pay someone to do the balljoint swap when I'm sure I can do it. Just never had to do it before.
 

Austin

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It's sort of a pain in the ass if they are really snug. Also, you may have to rent a ball joint press from your local autoparts store. Once you do one side, set aside all the other sleeves as to not get them messed up. I swear I spent another 30 minutes trying to figure out what I had done.

Oh, and I used some cheapo ball joints from Rock auto. I'll let you know how long they last.
 

bad moose

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Without pict's it's kind of hard to explain, but I'll try. Take a pry pry bar and pry up on the ball joint, then while prying whap the cast piece that the ball joint fits into and it will pop out. The first time I saw it done I didn't believe it, but it works quite well. May take a bfh. I do it on heavy equip and have done it on my Ford also.
 

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