Uper control arm and lower ball joints change..

[Quattro]

I am going to change out my upper control arms and lower ball joints up front this upcoming weekend. Are there any "upgraded" control arms that I can purchase to increase off road capabilities or stability?

Also, what is the best lower ball joints that I can purchase, ie easiest to install or best quality...

Thanks in advance.

 

[KWT2000]

moog components are far better in quality... upgrade to poly bushings in the uppers since you are gonna have them off... the eziest way to do the lowers is to use a u/jont ball joint tool $40@ harbor freight... makes the job easy... have seen it done with an air hammer also

 

[04DrBlur]

Use heat on the lower ball joints and you can tap them right out after you remove the snap ring. If you toss the new ball joints in the freezer the night before it will slide right in if your lower arm is still hot.

 

[tdatk]

Whats the level of difficulty on this job, ? Mine needs to be done as well. Is there a writeup on here somewhere?

TIA
Tim
97 EB Expy w/195k

 

[Quattro]

thanks guys

Good suggestions, I heard that you can rent the Ujoint remover from a local auto parts store so I will try that before I buy it. I will for sure buy the moog parts online.

Great tip about heating and cooling the old and new, I have an impact gun so I should be able to get them out easy enough.

If you are interested in how hard this job is, search on you tube ball joint removal and there is a whole series on how to remove them. The truck they work on is a 1998 Ford F150 so its almost exact.

 

[KWT2000]

never use heat on a pressed fit part... thats just asking for trouble and failure