How do you change the upper and lower ball joints on a 1999 dodge ram 1500 rear drive?

Answer 1

when you purchase new ball joints, ask the parts store if they also rent out a ball joint press (its a giant C clamp with a couple sleeves and disks) and a pickle fork (also called a ball joint separator), usually autozone and oriellys carry these tools. after you jack up your truck, you take the separator tool, and put it in between the control arm and the spindle (rotor assembly) and just hammer the crap out of it until they separate(its a taper fit into a hole in the spindle, so it will pop out). after this you use the ball joint press to pop out the old ball joint out of the control arm, then use the press to press in the new joint, place the taper back into the spindle and then jack up the arm to press the spindle and joint back together, then screw on the nut and your good to go. As for the lower ball joint, im currently tryin to get mine pressed in and its being a pain in the butt. I also have a 1999 Dodge ram 1500 2wd. Separate the lower control arm from the spindle using the separator just like you did for the top ball joint, now before you try to press out the lower ball joint, there is a snap ring along the top of the joint that you need to remove first, after removing the snap ring, simply press out the old joint, press in the new joint (which is where im at and its being a dic* about) and then put on the new snap ring so it helps hold the joint in place. After this place the spindle back on the taper again, jack it up to press it together, and screw on the nut and cotter pin and then attach your grease tips (if it comes with them) and grease them and your done. now if it was only that easy....