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changing ball joints in a sd

1K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  olsmokey 
#1 ·
i believe its a 2001 f250. its a friend of mine's and im doin the ball joints for him. my question is. is it possible to drop the knuckle without taking the hub completely apart. like just taking the tierod brakeline and balljoint nuts off. im new to the sd never messed with one. im trying to save some time doing it this way any help is appreciated. thanks, kaden
 
#2 ·
its way easier getting the hub apart on a sd. just pull brake and hub and axel shaft. takes 20 mins to get all that out on a sd. then just take the nuts off the ball joints and hammer it off.
 
#4 ·
sorry lol posted at the same time lol. And plus while you have it taken apart i would suggest replacing the axle shaft seal and the needle bearing in the back of the hub assembly.
 
#3 ·
I'm sure it is but why. Taking the hub apart is only like two or three snap rings. Pretty simple and it wouldn't be so heavy to move around during instalation with the hub taken apart.
 
#6 ·
No there is a axle seal if I am recalling correctly that is not going to pull out like that. Believe me if there was a way to do it without pulling the hub etc BS all apart people woudl be doing it. It really is not that bad. More having to buy all the extra seals and what not is more the PITA. Not the cost just having to get it all together. If you are doing the ball joints might as well be real sure those unit bearings are perfectly good as that is the time to change them out if need be.
 
#7 ·
Just a fyi, obs is a sum biatch to get that hub centric thing off the knuckle what a mother! It took me and my buddy 4 hours to do ball joints in the obs today, i can do ball joints on a sd by myself in 2 hours. That hub thing is a PITA :doh:
 
#8 ·
ill switch ya. it took me an hour and a half to do mine in my 97 yesterday. on the sd we started at about 11 this morning and just got done at about 930 this evening. every thing was froze up on that truck we broke two ball joint presses jacking with this today. the spindle on the obs is cake that dang unit bearing on the sd is the pita. spent about 2 hours a piece tryin to get them out.:doh:
 
#9 ·
A piece of advice for removing the hubs on an obs or sd is to remove the nuts on the studs holding the unit bearing on(sd) or hub(obs) then put the tire on with a couple of lug nuts and lower vehicle to put weight on the wheel and turn the steering wheel sharply. They will pop loose with ease.
 
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