Changing Ball Joints?
 

Hi Guys. I need to change the ball joints in my 89 GT. I bought the tool and ball joints from Autozone when I was in Florida in Dec, what else will I need to do the job?. Do I need to remove the brake rotor? Disconnect the shock strut? I know I will need to disconnect the tie rod end. What are the tricks and is it an easy job or a *****. Any help would be great.

Thanks

Chris
************************************************** **89 GT 5 Speed

It will be a pain in the ***. You basically have to seperate the ball joint from the spindle and then take the A-arm off probably to press out the old balljoints and press in the new ones. Spring will have to come out to do this, along with sway bar end links, etc.

Thanks for your reply QuantunMotorsports. Looks like I'm in for some fun, It needs doing badly so here it goes.

Cheers

Chris

I would just look into replacing the whole a arm. Some places you can pick it up and its not a huge amount more. But if you do it this way id spend a few extra $$ and make sure you get a new one thats really good.

You can get a set of motorsport A arms with new ball joints and bushings for like $100. It was a no brainer for me man. Check on jegs and summit. If not there, post here if you're interested and i'll find the place i got mine.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...t=FMS%2DM3075A

check that out, it's about $200, maybe i was mistaken, you might be able to find it cheaper somewhere else though.

Thanks for your reply. I will wait until next weekend to start the job. We had some good sand storms here so I will leave it until next week. I would have done the A Arms but read some horror stories on seized A arm bolts, I don't have the tools here to tackle that if it happens. Shipping to Saudi was going to be $300+ which is also a downer and another reason I just picked up some Ball joints from Autozone. Will I need to remove the spindle or can I press the balljoint out with the spindle attached?
Thanks for your time

Chris

Id still say just do the whole a arm. The best thing to do is just soak it with a good penetrating oil a every day for like 2-3 days before you go to do it. And just out of curiousity, you have a press but you dont have the tools to work around a seized bolt?

I picked up the G clamp press tool from autozone when I was in Florida in Dec. That made for a interesting trip back through security at the airports, not to mention the arabic stamps in my passport!!!! I'll have a go with this G clamp, if its crap I'll order some A-arms and change the whole thing. Being in the middle of nowhere makes it hard to get all sorts of crap. I tried to get A arms in Australia when I was home on holiday from mustang importers but I didn't have enough time. Thanks for your reply.

Cheers

Chris