imported_monsoon

I just replaced my right drive shaft and both tie rod ends. So I went to get an alignment and the guy calls me back into the shop and says my drivers side upper ball joint is shot. He grabs the tire and moves it around and sure enough it's gone. Do I replace just the ball joint or the whole assembly? Is it a hard to get the ball joint outa there? I haven't had to replace a ball joint yet so I'm not sure.
Thanks for any help

imported_gatherer

the whole assembly I believe

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

Not always... I've had new ball joints pressed in where necessary... one camber kit even just provides offset balljoints that need pressing in. Usually carquest machine shop (check local yellow pages) can do it for like $20. They did mine cuz the dealer turned me away (I told you guys my dealer is packed to the brim with fools). They said they don't do that at the dealer they send the **** out. So I went right to the source. Really, it's very simple, you can do it if you have a vise... just be careful to drive the balljoint back in straight.... just for this reason is why I sent it to the machine shop...plus I didn't have a vise handy.

ohmstable

I'm almost certain you cannot replace just the upper ball joint. You have the do the whole assembly. The lower ball joint is pressed in. I've done a couple upper ball joint removals, in each case I replaced the whole assembly which looks like a V with the ball joint at the tip of the V. I think its welded into place.