97 4X4 Balljoint replacement any expericence

[toy100]

i have a 97 4X4 SR5 146000 miles tires wearing on inside alignment i right on so im wanna try balljoint replacement!! (HARD? EASY?) any1 with exper thanks

[65riv]

Haven't done em on a T, but have done em on a handful of cars/SUVs. So I'll just give you my two cents. You'll save a ton of dough doing your own. But having the right tools makes a huge difference. A ball joint press is great to have and you can pick em up at Napa as well as other places. Basically, it's a clamplike device which presses the ball joint out as you turn a nut with socket wrench. Might cost around $60-70 if I remember correctly. Also presses then in, which is important, cuz if it's not straight, you can cock the balljoint fitting in the control arm, which sucks. Another thing is, while you;'ve got things taken apart, you should probably just go ahead and replace tie rod ends (inner/outer) cus they tend to get bent over time. Heck, might as well replace front shocks as well, to complete the scene.

Some in here might have some opinions about using OEM parts throughout, and in the T I prolly would too. But in other cars, brandX was just fine and surprisingly cheap. In all cases, the replacements lasted the duration of my ownership. Never had to touch the front end again, which is a nice piece of mind thing.

One other thing, many public libraries have very decent auto repair sections. Swapped my first tranny three days after getting books from the library, on another vehicle I did the rings and replcaed pistons. Many other repairs as well. So checking your library out should be on the agenda of anyone getting into repairs they're not accustomed to. Gives confidence.

like i said, I'm sure others will chime in who've replaced em on the T. Good luck.

[65riv]

thought of one other thing. While you have things taken apart, you should also check your CV boots for tears. I did the joints on an old civic and went ahead and replaced the h-shafts for $52 each (the mechanic wanted $1200 to do that job). The boots was the only thing wrong, but given the price of the parts, it was more economical for me (cost & time) to just replace both shafts.