Do any of the loaner tool balljoint presses work?

[akajibio]

I'm to the point where I'm ready to press out the old ball joints. It looks like the usual rental stores have big master sets available for rental these days. Anyone know if they have the right adapters for our Jeeps included in these big sets?

I would rather not have to buy a set if I don't have to but everything on my Jeep that hasn't been worked on recently is pretty seized up so I think I need to use the right tool for this to work.

View attachment 664495

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09J54HW7Y?tag=wranglerorg-20

 

[Vtx531]

I did a test on the new ujoint (the one that I messed up) to make sure paint wasn't getting past the seal. This is worst case scenario - I slathered the paint on, and left it sitting with gravity pulling the paint down into the seal. Looks good to me.

I removed and installed the second set of ball joints too. The autozone tool and autozone adapter kit worked again.

 

[Moglocker]

Well, I decided to give it a try with the tools I had. As others said - it worked. The bottom ball joint went in pretty smoothly. The top was a tougher - It looked like the balljoint started to go in a little crooked so I removed it and started over. Then I used the axle nut washer as a shim to help get it started straight, then I took the shim out and it pressed in fine the rest of the way. Not bad at all.

The hardest part was removing the old ball joints. They were seized pretty bad until I got the propane torch out. The bottom joint popped free about 10 seconds after applying the heat and the top one took a bit of heating and tightening repeatedly.

View attachment 664718
View attachment 664719

Did you do spicers?are they knurled or smooth?

 

[Vtx531]

I did Spicers and they were smooth. Still slightly different than the exact OEM ones as was reported in another thread, the upper body is actually shorter for some reason than the originals.

 

[Vtx531]

Painted some stuff today. Looks nice with fresh paint! But how long will it hold up for?

The gloss should knock down a bit after it dries.

 

[Hasselblad]

This is the one I used this past summer, worked fine, and included the angled cup.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JBOIA0W?tag=wranglerorg-20

It's frigging yuge

 

[GregBelleville]

This is the one I used this past summer, worked fine, and included the angled cup.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JBOIA0W?tag=wranglerorg-20

It's frigging yuge

I bought that same set when I did my ball joints, no complaints either.

 

[Vtx531]

Ujoints were part of this project too, I screwed it up the first time around. The seals were on extremely tight and I somehow ended up with two seals on one of the crosses. Not sure how I did that but the new ujoint got ruined trying to remove it and I had to start over with another one. Second time around I removed and reset all four of the caps and seals first before installing it and then they were easy to slide on/off and install.

Finally received another ujoint today and I put it in without a hitch. Here is why you want to turn around the seal ring if it is backward. It works as a dust shield for the unit bearing when turned this way but if it is turned the other way it does nothing. That way is for very old style Spicer axles with grease seals in that area.

 

[senecagreen]

I bought the icon master set since I have a few different vehicles. When we bought the fleet ball joints at napa for my sons 99 xj the ball joint came with a adapter since they are a little different.

The ICON press is pretty hd for getting the old ball joints out.

Professional Master Ball Joint/Universal Joint Press Set, 20-Piece
Professional Master Ball Joint/Universal Joint Press Set, 20-Piece https://share.google/QS8fbfWGjHyIxTgVX

 

[carmangary]

I replaced my ball joints using the c clamp press thing from Autozone.