Have a bad upper ball joint on passenger side. I know the hub and spindle need to be removed to pull the axle. After that any hints to make removing the ball joints go smooth? Should I do both sides? I know I need to do both(upper/lower) on one side. Thanks,

Definately buy or rent a ball joint press. I have done ball joints with and without a press. Lets just say it took about 11 hours to do both sides without and 3 hours with the press. The part that sucks to most is that you have to take off so much stuff to get to them. Good Luck:D

I usually use a pickle fork and a BFH to get them off. They seem to go in and out fairly easily, for me that is.

Hmm.....interesting.....I've never seen anyone use a pickle fork on ball joints.......maybe tie rod ends but never ball joints on a 4X4.

I tried changeing the ball joint on the drivers side with no luck. The ball joint is loose and spins freely so I can't get the nut off. I gave up and checked into having them done. Prices ranged from $149 per side to $749 for both. I guess I'll try a little harder!

This discussion came up on CK5 a while back. There were several good sugestions. Here is the link to the discussion.:

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=firstgen&Number=394691&Search=true&Forum=All_Forums&Words=How%20difficult%3F...%20Wheel%20bearings%20and%20ball%20joints.&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=50&Old=allposts&Main=394691

I think I got a bit mixed up. I kinda meant one of those forks that you hit with a hammer not exactly a pickle fork, I got a set of two of them and supposedly one of them can be used for ball joints...

Found the time to replace my right side ball joints. Had a good day at work so I hoped it would carry over to the evening. Took about 2 hours to have the steering knuckle sitting on my garage floor. :D Could not ask for anything better, everything was tight but I was using a 3/4 inch drive socket set, ratchet handle is 20" long. Made the job easy. Now I just have to go buy the ball joints(from Napa) and find a shop to press the old ones out and the new ones in. :flag:

Nows a good time to do crossover steering