Lower ball joint - grease out = bad

[spideyrdr]

Hi all,

First, I spent most of the day chasing around a 3 year old. I then ran out the the garage to start my OME lift install and have been at it for 5 hours so I am a bit fried. My search fu is not working and apologize for having to ask this.

I simply could not get the tie rod to separate and resorted to a pickle fork and now there is some grease around the ball joint. Did I damage it if grease is coming out?

I frankly don't know if they the LBJ's have ever been replaced so maybe I'll do it either way, but would be nice to know if I tore it or having grease is normal (I have never worked with LBJ's).

Next, it seems like the preferable replacement is the greaseable Moogs. K3199 is the part I see referenced for that. Is that still correct for a 2005 KJ?

Finally, how hard are ball joints to replace using the loaner ball joint tool from an auto parts store?

Cheers,
Jamie

 

[tommudd]

So you used a pickle fork on the tie rod end and now grease is coming out of the lower ball joint??:think:
First if hit hard enough they will pop loose, I hate pickle forks since most people end up tearing up the grease boots with them
If you tore the grease boot you should be able to see the tear if you clean the grease off , just look closely
The loaner tools will work but depending on how clean and rust free you've kept your ride will determine how easy they come out
5 hours??

 

[1BADKJ]

If you used a fork then yes they are leaking. I've never used a fork for tie rods or ball joints. If you use a ball joint tool its not bad at all...

 

[spideyrdr]

I was beating on that sucker for 45 minutes and couldn't get it to budge, so yeah resorted to the forks.

Upon reinspection this morning, the thing is torn, so it looks like I'll be replacing it. So to the question: is the greaseable Moog part K3199 what I want? Having never replaced one before, is it terribly difficult to replace using auto part store loaner tools?

Yeah, 5 hours. I'm a little slow on a project when doing something for the first time. I'm doing the suspension including UCA's and replacing the hubs too. Here's how it went with some steps / swear words omitted.

4:00-4:30 Remove front wheels, remove hub covers, replace front wheels, go to loosen hub nut only to find the 35mm socket I bought won't fit.
4:30-5:00 Run to parts store to get loaner set of hub sockets
5:00-5:05 Find out the loaner 35mm socket works fine.
5:05-5:07 Try to figure out why my @(&% 35mm socket didn't work
5:07-5:15 Remove driver side front wheel again. I turn focus to just the driver side.
5:15-5:30 Remove battery and battery tray
5:30-5:45 Unbolt sway bar and tie rod (hand tools and PB blaster take patience)
5:45-6:30 Trying to separate ball joint to no avail. Use force from underneath, up down, left right left right, BA start, use THE Force (The Force was not strong with me yesterday), give up.
6:30-7:00 Run back to part store to get 3 jaw puller and pickle fork
7:00-7:30 Unsuccessfully try to use puller and resort to pickle fork which works after tapping it in and literally standing on it
7:30-7:35 Remove caliper and suspend out of the way
7:35-7:45 Remove clevis bolts - the bottom was a very difficult to remove and I believe it's toast as I can't get it back together. Possibly stretched too much by previous install.
7:45-7:50 Use pickle fork to separate UCA
7:45-8:00 Separate clevis from existing shock - took some effort, time, and patience
8:00-8:30 Remove and replace existing shock.
8:30-8:40 Wrestle with the reassembling the clevis and the clevis-to-LCA bolt. Determine the bolt is hosed. Move on.
8:40-9:00 Loosen UCA bolts and hope the passenger side is easier. Appears from the chatter on here that it's possibly more challenging on that side.
9:00 Call it a night.

 

[spideyrdr]

Update: Passenger side went MUCH better and no torn ball joints. Just a hair over 2 hours from start of airbox removal to having everything back together. The lower clevis bolt on that side is boogered up so it looks like I need to order new ones for each side. I wonder if the tech doing the original lift at the dealership over torqued them or something.

The JBA UCA went in so much easier on the passenger side, so I must have misread the sentiment on the difficulty.

Next task is to replace the hubs which I may tackle later today. Tomorrow I get to order a new ball joint or two (might lower ball joints on both sides while I am doing it) and new clevis-to-LCA bolts and nuts. Might take a couple of extra days and many contributions to the swear jar, but I'm getting this lift ON.

Cheers,
Jamie

 

[1BADKJ]

Sounds like its going good. PICS.....

 

[tommudd]

Yep passenger side is a snap if you did the drivers first. Drivers is easy really except for the rear bolt and then theres a couple of trick to get it done.
I assume you didn't tighten them ( UCAs) up yet right?

 

[spideyrdr]

Sounds like its going good. PICS.....

Haven't been able to grab pics during - will have before and after at least!

Yep passenger side is a snap if you did the drivers first. Drivers is easy really except for the rear bolt and then theres a couple of trick to get it done.
I assume you didn't tighten them ( UCAs) up yet right?

Everything is tightened at this point except the clevis-to-LCA bolts which are FUBAR. I assume you're asking because I am going to regret tightening everything already?

Edit: I buckled everything up so I could move on to the hub replacement. Didn't want it loose when operating the slide hammer. Depending on how long it will take the bolts to show up at the dealer, I may end up putting on the front wheels so I can do the rear in the mean time.

 

[tjkj2002]

Everything is tightened at this point except the clevis-to-LCA bolts which are FUBAR. I assume you're asking because I am going to regret tightening everything already?

Edit: I buckled everything up so I could move on to the hub replacement. Didn't want it loose when operating the slide hammer. Depending on how long it will take the bolts to show up at the dealer, I may end up putting on the front wheels so I can do the rear in the mean time.

You want the UCA bolts to be loose,only torque when full weight is on them,IE the Jeep is back on the ground with the wheels on otherwise it will wearout the bushings very fast.

 

[eyehatetofu]

If your gonna swap out the ball joints RockAuto has the Moog ones for $35. They were running $60 ish and change at my local parts store; so if you have the time I'd definitely get them from RA.

 

[spideyrdr]

You want the UCA bolts to be loose,only torque when full weight is on them,IE the Jeep is back on the ground with the wheels on otherwise it will wearout the bushings very fast.

Noted. I'll back off the UCA bolts and re-tighten once I'm back back on the ground. Thanks for the tip!

If your gonna swap out the ball joints RockAuto has the Moog ones for $35. They were running $60 ish and change at my local parts store; so if you have the time I'd definitely get them from RA.

Thanks for the advice! They are about $65 local here too, so I'll definitely consider ordering them.