ball joint Previa

All-Trac or RWD?

I had a chance to look at the repair manual, and it looks like it doesn't matter whether it is All-Trac or RWC.

Unbolt the lower control arm underneath the steering knuckle, remove other bolts as necessary, and remove the lower control arm. Use an SST that looks like a c-clamp or a pickle fork type may also work to separate the ball joint.

Everything went smooth until the end, for some reason I cant get one of the control arm bolts all the way in. It encounters resistance when its only got another 3/8 inch to go in, and I cant figure it out. Its definitely threaded right, and I'm afraid to crank it too hard.

Remove the bolt and see if you can see anything inside the hole that is interfering with the bolt, or try sticking a wire or awl up there to make sure there is enough clearance for the bolt. Make sure you have the correct bolt - I've taken things apart and used a short bolt where a long one should go, and then the remaining long bolt ends up being too long to fit in the short bolt's hole. As a last resort, you can try chasing the holes with a die and the bolt with a tap or thread chaser file.

== That's my first guess also. See if the bolts are different length.

On May 5, 9:37 am, "Ray O"

Turns out the holes on the ball joint and the control arm just werent lined up perfectly. I'm not sure why it wouldnt go in all the way since it was in ALMOST in, but its in there now.

Now I can answer my original question myself, no its not hard at all to change the ball joint! In fact its easy. The hardest part was getting it to separate with the fork. That just saved me about $110

It's good to hear that everything went well!

On May 5, 11:33 am, "Ray O"

Thats one less thing, but unfortunately not the last thing. I was hoping the vehicle would vibrate less with the new ball joint, but it doesnt. I've got new tires which I think may be contributing to road nose and some vibration, but they cant be the whole problem. How to diagnose a deep vibration? Its worse on acceleration, and best at about 65 mph. I suppose an alignment is in order now, but I dont know if it could be that.

Noises and vibrations are difficult to diagnose without experiencing them first hand. The most common cause of vehicle vibration is tires, but they will tend to vibrate at a certain speed without much relation to whether the vehicle is cruising, accelerating, or decelerating. In order of likelihood, vibrations on acceleration could be caused by an out-of-balance or damaged driveshaft, bad U-joints, a bad or mis-aligned SADS shaft, bad motor and/or transmission mounts, a differential problem, or bad wheel/axle/differential bearing. The SADS shaft moves up in order of likelihood if it has been removed or if the vehicle has been in an accident.

Is the SAD shaft the rear shaft? That one has been removed.

I'm thinking its driveline or loose parts. The vibration tends to stop when I let off the accelerator. I hope it isnt the SAD, that sounds like more work/money than I want to put into a 325K vehicle.

The separated accessory drive shaft (SADS) is the one at the front of the motor that is connected where the lower crankshaft pulley would normally be and drives the belt for the alternator, AC compressor, and power steering pump. If the SADS is removed, there is a special procedure for lining it up when re-installing it.

I saw your post about the U-joints. There is a correct phasing, or orientation, of the yokes on the drive shaft. If the installer does not pay attention and make match marks before removal, there is a 50-50 chance that it would be installed out of phase, which could cause vibrations and shorter U-joint life. I don't remember if the U-joint has a grease fitting, but if it does, a shot of grease may help its longevity a little.

On May 6, 11:12 am, "Ray O"

The installer was ...ahem....me, so theres a much greater than 50% chance I did it wrong. I thought about that possibility while I was taking it off today. Since I didnt mark it when I took it off or put it on last time, I didnt bother doing so today, since I might have just marked it in the wrong position. The rear U-joint is definitely shot...the front one is OK I think.

Can I make sure I put the shaft back on the right way, with no markings?

Joe, I sent an e-mail to you with some instructions attached. Send me an e-mail if you don't receive it.

On May 6, 1:07 pm, "Ray O"

Thanks. You may have to send it again. This email account was inactive so it would have been rejected or deleted, but I just reactivated it so it should go through now

Can you share the "Cliff Notes" version with the rest of us? I might run into something like that one of these days, and if it's just a simple set of match-marks...

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Making match marks with an awl, crayon, or paint where the companion flanges on the driveshaft mate with the transmission and differential helps to put it back together exactly the same way, otherwise make sure the yokes on the U-joints are lined up the same way and hope for the best.

I cc'd Bruce on the instructions.