Well, that was easy.
Finished off one more of the jobs that needed to be done on the ZJ.
The inner right drag link ball joint (the one that connects the tie rod to the drag link) was shot. It was making ye old standard sucking noises when the wheels were turned and was probably contributing to a bit of road wonder.
Anyhow, The joint came out easier than the stabilizer did. Still used a ball joint press to get it out, but only had to tighten it with the small wrench and hit it once with the BFH.
The trick was putting the new one in without screwing up the alignment.
Took three measurements. One between the bolt and the far wheel tie rod clamp. Transfered the existing tie rod position to the drag link using a carpenters square. And finally measured between the bolt and marked the threads on the new link end.
When I put it back up the whole assembly simply slid into place and all the marks lined up. :) I got lucky the wheels didn't move.
The only thing that pissed with me was the castle nut. On this new ball joint the cotter-pin hole was further down on the shaft and didn't want to clear the nut when it was set to proper torque. It also didn't have a lot of clearance or a bevel. Had to piddle with the hole and one of my round files to get just enough clearance to pound it in.
Next up the track bar and upper/lower control arms. Eventually I'll have to replace the other control bar end and the drag link (the ball joint is part of the whole stinking bar). Probably should have just bought all the parts and did it in one go. But that's too much to mess with right now. :/