The upper ball joint is not sold separately, so you need the whole control arm. It is pretty easy to do. If the upper ball joint brakes, the tire and knuckle will come off taking the cv joint, outer tierod end, etc with it. So it is important.

One suggestion is to tighten the pivots once the car is down with the tire on, so the bushings have no pressure when the car is in the "rest" position.

You might want to shoot some grease in the upper ball joint and see if the squeak goes away. You should also replace the torn lower boot. Exposing the ball joint to dirt can cause premature wear.

 

I am ignorant when it comes to ball joints. Never changed one myself and never watched anyone change one. So, I'm paranoid. I get what I need to do to separate the steering knuckle from the lower control arm (and to separate the upper control arm from the knuckle). But, if there is a special process or tools needed to separate from the ball joint, is there a special process for re-attaching?

 

No, you separate the knuckle from the upper control arm. Then watch the wheel/knuckle assembly doesn't topple outwards, because that pulls the inboard CV joint apart.

Then unbolt the inboard end of the upper control arm & remove it (balljoint still attached to upper arm). Watch for wires that belong to the ABS sensors.

 

There are two ways you can try to separate the upper joint from the knuckle.

1. Remove cotter pin and castle nut to upper control arm. Use a heavy hammer to hit the knuckle where the ball joint seats to loosen it.

2. Rent the smaller pitman arm puller from autozone. Remove cotter pin and castle nut. Put the castle nut on the end of the stud from the upper ball joint, but do not thread it on there. You want to use the puller to push up on the castle nut to push up the ball joint.

As Jim said secure the upper part of the knuckle. I would use a bungee chord to hold the knuckle to the shock, so it does not fall out and pull out the inner CV joint. Copy and paste this into your browser to see a DIY. The first few pics show what I am talking about, except I would use the castle nut to prevent mushrooming the ball joint stud.

92lude.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6981

 

The doorman is a good brand and it's warranteed for lifetime plus you can rent a ball joint press at your AUTO Zone and when you bring it back you get the rental fee back..

WheelBrokerAng

Click The Image!

 

Thank you very much! The write-up will be very useful.

I was under the car while it was being pressed, so I could hear the sounds. I am 99% certain the sound is coming from the upper ball joint. I tried pulling down the dust boot on the upper ball joint and tried pressing some grease in there. Hopefully it will quite down a little.

I'll get the control arm ordered next week and, weather permitting, it will be installed right after Christmas.

I'll report back.

 

You'll probably want to get a suspension alignment after replacing the upper arm.

 

There is no (OE) adjustment on the UCA (5th gen's) so the alignment is not really needed after the replacement,,,,,unless there was an issue before.

If you go for method #1, a reg claw hammer is not going to get it. Also if you've never used that method before I'd suggest starting with #2.

 

Thank you PAhonda, JimBlake, WheelBrokerAng & poorman212. I really appreciate your help!

I have ordered the control arm from RockAuto, it should be here on the 24th. Towards the end of the week I'll look arrange for renting a pitman puller or a ball joint tool from my local chain store.

Looking forward to a quite ride again!

 

First of all, great suggestion regarding the bungee cord to connect steering knuckle to the shock. It worked great.

I am having a problem though.

I can't tell if the stud is spinning or if the nut is somehow stripped. I could cut the nut off, but I don't want to do that (yet!).

When I assembled the upper control arm, I connected the two upper bolts (to torque) then I tried connecting the ball joint bolt. The stud was going through the steering knuckle and I started to thread on the castle nut. I was not supporting the steering knuckle w/a jack at that time. I started using my socket and it got tight very quickly (it was not cross threaded though). Then I heard a pop. The castle nut stopped tightening. It was not yet to the cotter pin hole. I tried loosening the castle nut and it backed up a few turns and stopped loosening. I don't know if the nut is stripped or if the stud is spinning.

I can cut the nut off, but I don't want to do that (yet).

Did I do something wrong here when trying to seat the ball joint into the steering knuckle? All I did was to put the stud through the hole and start tightening (I thought the nut would do the work to pull the stud through the hole more).

Does it sound like the nut is stripped or am I looking at another problem?

Thanks very much! Trying to get this finished. The car is on jack stands in the driveway and a snow storm is coming!

Jeff