Dynatrac ProSteer ball joint install

[daveb]

Originally Posted by pjpvi

Yes, I am.

Well report back any trouble you have... if any. I'm wanting to do this myself but really need a place (shop) where I can do it and would really feel better having someone do the job while I assist rather than me doing it. At least this post is a fantastic guide.

[JoeH]

Roonie, do you have any air tools? That might be the ticket for that PIA stuck bolt.

Is $650 pretty much the going rate for these puppies? I can tell you from googling prosteer ball joints and reading some of the threads in the jeep and other forums and the approval rating on the Moogs is not very high. Apparently, the quality and longevity has gone downhill in recent years.

[pjpvi]

I did the bearings, pads and rotors last year and was going to wait on the ball joints until next bearing maintenance, but when rotating the tires last weekend, I noticed a fair amount of play in the ball joints. That, together with a pull I've had for a long time (which I think is attributed to the worn ball joints) and an upcoming trip to the Arizona Strip area, made me think that now is the time.

The guy at Dynatrac said I was doing very good to be at 65k miles on the original ball joints. He told me about some of the process that goes into making theirs and the applications they are used on. Kind of interesting. It certainly made me feel a little better about spending the big coin on the Dynatrac ball joints.

Phil

[pjpvi]

Thanks to John for the write up and off-line pointers. Finished the job today and although a PITA, I'm glad I did it myself. I "borrowed" a C-clamp type ball joint remover from O'reilly Auto Parts (did you know they let you use specialty tools for free for 48 hours?), but there was no way those ball joints were coming out that way. I torqued it as much as I could, applied heat and BFH and it wouldn't move. I took the knuckles to a local shop and they had the old ones out and new ones in in about an hour and a half. Money well spent.

One quick test drive confirms the front end feels a bit "tighter". One of the old upper ball joints had a completely ripped boot and was really lose. I'm glad I did this project and although expensive, I'm hoping the Dynatrac ball joints last a very long time. BTW, the guys at Dynatrac are very helpful. They go on my list of great vendors to work with now too.

Now, time to go use the van in another week and a half!

Phil

[BIGVANS]

This is why I started using "Kingpin" Dana 60 front ends on my vans.

[scummy]

Does anyone have the part number for the Spicer parts? I would like to get the rebuildable ones, but spending $600 on ball joints and then another $1500 on tires just isn't going to happen right now.

[BogusBlake]

Originally Posted by scummy

Does anyone have the part number for the Spicer parts? I would like to get the rebuildable ones, but spending $600 on ball joints and then another $1500 on tires just isn't going to happen right now.

707238X

*edit* Turns out those are superseded by 700238-2X

[scummy]

Thanks Blake!

[Tapatio]

I'm having the Dynatrac's installed today. The original spicer's lasted 40k miles.

[TomsBeast]

Being in the middle of a DIY front axle and suspension makeover, I can tell you that swapping out D60 ball joints is a pretty big job. If you're not set up for it (which I was not), it's pretty time consuming. I'm not sure what the shop flat rate manuual calls for, but at $100/hr, buy best bj you can afford. Wait, that didn't come out right... :-D

The brakes and knuckles are big, heavy, and you need a 3lb short handle sledge to knock the tie rod and ball joint taper fits apart. My rig has spent some time in snow country of Idaho and Utah, and been out on the Bonneville Salt flats as a tow rig. Salt is no one's friend. Everything was stuck.

Stuck nuts and bolts aside, then you need not only a 20 ton press, but the backing and pressing sleeves to complete the job. One special sleeve you need to remove the lower ball joint, needs to be wedged about 1/4", to make up for the tapered surface on the inner C section of the knuckles. I made a usable tapered sleeve from heavy wall 3" muffler tube. Ford and others probably sell one, but my new Lisle ball joint R&R C clamp style kit was almost worthless for this job, as I only used 1 or two sleeves, the C clamp wouldn't work for most of the pressing. Forget the Harbor Freight unit all together.

In my view, the shop press is one of the more dangerous tools in the shop, lots of stored energy, you'd better have things copacetic before putting a lot of force on things, not a tool for a novice, as things can go wrong and shoot out horizontally with enough force to do some serious damage.

I spent the better part of a day making the right pressing sleeves (in my buddy's lathe) from some old stock laying around.

I've farmed out pressing to machine shops in the past, with marginal results (VW ball joints mis-indexed, one f'ed up ball joint because the lazy clown pressed on the bj stud instead of the cup!) If you go this route, make sure the guy in the shop (not just the guy at the counter) has pressed D60 ball joints before.

When I DIY, at least I know the job was done right.