88 trooper lower ball joints

Jun 22, 2007 1 Replies

Hi,



I got an 88 trooper to move a small boat a few miles from home to the ramp and an occasional load of lumber. To pass the safety inspection here in Maine I need to replace the lower ball joints. I can see they won't clear the outer CV joint that is up against the spindle casting. Do I need to totally remove the drive axle (not worth the trouble) or is there a way to push the joint away from the spindle to alow the ball joint to lift out. If the Haynes manual is correct removing the axle means lots of dissasembly and given the age probably much cursing , wailing and gnashing of teeth.



TIA



Tim O


The Haynes manual , as is so often the case, was useless here. What was needed was to remove the hub assembly, reemove the circlip on the axel end after which the spindle slides free of the axel, pivoting on the tie rod and upper joint away from the cv joint enough for the lower ball joint to come out. Without air tools it took me about an hour each side.

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