1991 gmc safari ball joints

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How To Replace Ball Joints

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P.S. " A picture is worth a thousand words". I have a bunch more pictures, there were just to many to post. So if anyone who hasent done this before and is skeptical, I can email you a file with all the pictures to help you get a better visual idea.  

Quickie note: the instructions that came with my Moog upper ball joints said to install the heads of the bolts down, the nuts on top. This makes sense since the heads are thinner and don't chew on the spindle or the boot...did yours not have this?  

Thanks for taking the time for pictures, just something about pics. that helps so much. I may need to do this somewhere in the future & this will definitely help Thanks again  

Nice job! Esp the painting of all the components. It's a clean machine. Ya, I think you want those bolts pointing up like LeAnn's. Also, there's a "grease relief valve" on Moog (and some other) boots. It's simply an area of the large side lip that doesn't have the "ledge" in it. If you keep this "valve" pointed toward the inboard side of the van, excess grease will squeeze out onto the control arm instead of drop down toward the brakes or get on the inside of the tire. The boot is labeled but of course it's black on black in tiny text "this side away from brake" or something like that. Hard to see, esp once you've got it on the joint. I put a little dot of white paint on mine so I'd know which side goes in. Another satisfied DIY ball jointer AND steering linker... :bouncy: Lump  

It should be noted that on AWD vans, the Ball joint press is not needed, but you have the addition of a drive axel to deal with. Thanks for showing the ball joint seperator though, I always had a hard time envisioning how they actually worked with the ball joint for some reason. I may have to pick on up and not fight with the pickel fork...although generally, if you are replacing parts, the damage a pickel fork does is a moot point.  

On separating ball joints from control arms... If you haven't already, look around (YouTube etc) for the hammer method. It really is quick. Essentially it's loosen the nut (but leave it connected) and strike the control arm at the joint with a hammer. Takes just a couple of hits usually. I don't have a ball peen, a regular carpenter's claw hammer did it for me. My 3 lb sledge was too big. It needs the concentrated ping of the smaller hammer. Couple hits and it pops free, no damage to the boot or the joint or the control arm. REALLY quick. And you don't have to mess with the separator tool. Lump  

Not sure I understand about the castle nut upside down. Elaborate, por favor? El Lump  

one thing that i have found that help with press in ball joint installation over the years is to put the new ones in your freezer for a day or 2 before you start the job. this will shrink the ball joint a little. you can also heat the lower a-frame with a rosebud tip which will expand the hole slightly. installation goes a little easier then. john  

Thanks for the awesome post. I'm looking at doing a full front end rebuild on my awd over this summer. This gave me the guts to do it.  

What is the difference when doing this for an AWD?  

Both ball joints are riveted in, and you MUST support the lower control arm as the torsion bar is under pressure. There is no spindle to remove, but you should remove the cv axle and brake assembly. I think you can do it with the cv in, the more room to work the better off you are.  

good day to you.....thank you very much for the very descriptive step by step procedure on how to remove the ball joints. I see the lower ball joint you remove is using a size 1 1/16" socket. My old 1986 astro van is in need of the ball joint replacement too. My problem is that I can't seem to be able to find the right size ball joint or lower control arm with a ball joint with the castle nut size 1 1/16". All I find is the 15/16" for the lower control arm. So I would like to ask you who did you deal with to get the parts. Because you know like me that the new lower ball joint has to be the same size than the old one. I hope you can help me on that one. Thank you again and hopefully my message is clear for you to read and understand.  

I read again your post and notice where you got your ball joints. Sorry about me being blind here. The castle nut of your new ball joint on the lower control arm is smaller in size than the old one. Old one is 1 1/16" socket size you are using to dismantle from the knuckle and the new ball joint castle nut seems to be a 7/8" socket to put it back together. When I did go to Napa to get a new ball joint the castle nut of the new is smaller in size so is the spindle. After some investigation Napa said that it is the right one that he brought me. But the spindle of the new ball joint is smaller than the old ball joint spindle. I could take the castle nut of the old ball joint and slide it through the new ball joint spindle. Would the new ball joint spindle compromise the driving once reattached to the steering knuckle and let's not forget about the alignment too. Thank you again.  

Just replaced the upper and lower ball joints on the passenger side of my 2003 AWD Astro using this post as a guide. I was a bit intimidated at first but this post gave me some confidence. Luckily both ball joints had been previously replaced so I didn't need to fight any rivets. Thanks for the detailed steps and clear pictures.  

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