> Has anyone here replaced their lower ball joints? I helped a local friend replace them on his car in my shop. > How difficult was it? Not very. > Are special tools required? Floor jack, jack stands, snap ring pliers & basic wrenches. > How much interference did you have to remove to do it? None unless you count mosquitoes. > Aside from odd tire wear, what are other symptoms of a failing ball joint? Steering feels clunky as the weight of the car makes the joint shift where it shouldn't. > Have heard tire wiggle test is too inconclusive (can also be bearings, bushings, etc). I agree, but you often don't have much to go on. The best test is a fixture that consists of a set of ramps. You drive onto it and then a hydraulic motor spreads the wheels apart and pulls them together. If there is anything loose in the suspension, this will show it. Since almost no one has access to stuff like that, my choice is to pick the car up such that the wheels are hanging and then grab & tug every which way by hand to look for play that shouldn't be there. > Autozone "rents" (pay a deposit, refunded when tools returned) both pickle fork and ball joint press. I already had a pickle fork on hand to separate the joint. Didn't need a press. He beat it out with a hammer. > Ball joints are riveted to upper control arm -- cut or grind off and install replacement with bolts. We did upper ball joints too. Used an air chisel to cut the rivet sleeves. Then used nuts & bolts to hold the new ball joint. > On installing the new one, it needs to go in very snug. If it's loose, Grady's sells a shim pair that will tighten up the fit. This was a problem on the lower ball joints. This particular car already had the PJ Grady reinforcement collar on one side. That made matters really confusing because weren't sure what we were looking at. Collar taps in with a hammer, no problem. Need a counter weight (dolly) to hold it still. We used a big sledge hammer for counter weight. > Handling isn't that bad but could be better. The question is what's the cause? Worn tie rod ends? Worn steering rack? Worn ball joint? Check everything for looseness and torn boots. With the car in the air, just pull and tug every which way. The original shocks are probably stiff enough with age that you might ought to replace them anyway. There are cross-references that are direct bolt on replacements and others that require the eyelet to be bored larger (or use a smaller bolt, your choice). > Occasional symptom is a vibration in the steering wheel, which sometimes occurs after a hard braking. The fact that it happens independent of braking tells you that it isn't the brakes. I would suspect a tire with crooked tread. DeLorean steering is really sensitive to ruts in the road especially while breaking. It will tend to pull the wheel to one side or the other (we're talking really bad roads here.) > The odd thing is, the vibration starts, then it just fades away for no apparent reason and all is well. This makes me think shock absorber or bad tire. Did it do it on the previous set of tires? Can you try swapping wheels with Mike C? Not sure he is anxious to have his wear funny, though. Maybe try your wheels on his car first. > Is it permissible to replace only one or do they have to be done in pairs? Ball joints can be done independently. Things that should be done in pairs are brakes & shocks. Tires should always match also. If you swap wheels side-to-side, be aware that some tires don't like their direction of rotation reversed. It makes the tread fall off. I've heard many people say otherwise, but I've had enough trouble doing this through the years that I'll never do it again. > Old mechanic's trick: put ball joints in freezer overnight. Wasn't necessary on this car. In fact, new lower ball joint fit a bit too loose. He should have gone with a large size maybe. I hear there are slightly different sizes but I would be at a loss as to which part numbers to ask for. I read a DML post long ago about someone putting a few MIG weld spots to hold theirs in. Didn't have anything like that here, and the guy had to drive his car home that day. So I gave him scraps from an old feeler gauge set to use as shims. It seemed to work fine, but hell if I would be held responsible for such a repair. I wasn't the one putting it on the car, so I don't really remember if PJ Grady's bushing/collar was loose in the control arm or if it was the ball joint that was loose in the collar or control arm. At this point I was just an amused spectator. I had great success using freezer technique to install new front wheel bearings. First bearing was only in freezer for about half an hour. I drove it in with a socket with a little difficulty. The next one almost dropped in because it was in the freezer for about an hour. So don't rush the freezer. > Don't forget that spring will need to be removed or compressed That would be a major PITA with anything rented from a common auto parts store. After we had the car supported on jack stands, we a floor jack to lift & hold the lower control arm. It's a bit dangerous, but then again I was the spectator letting an aggressive owner use my tools. Walt Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT <http://rd.yahoo.com/SIG=12cgmm1f3/M=267637.4116719.5338353.1261774/D=egro upweb/S=1705126215:HM/EXP=1069365406/A=1853618/R=0/*http://www.netflix.com /Default?mqso=60178338&partid=4116719> click here <http://us.adserver.yahoo.com/l?M=267637.4116719.5338353.1261774/D=egroupm ail/S=:HM/A=1853618/rand=862264298> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: DMCForum-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .
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