BALL JOINT REPLACEMENT - DODGE RAM VAN 2500 - Threaded Upper Ball Joint

[@jamesl2531]

This is one of the finest self-help videos I have seen on the Internet! Excellent camera work and editing. This worked on my 60-something Chrysler coupe. The guys at Autozone and Oriellys didn't know what tool I should use. Thank God I found this video before I pressed out the threaded joint! THANK YOU!

[@aDIYCarGuy]

lol you're welcome and thank you!

[@davidwhocares3293]

I agree....great video ! Thanx man !

[@davidwhocares3293]

Right on man thanx ! Do you have a video for the lower ball joint? Is it Threaded also ?

[@ManicMechanic007]

I did the same job on a 93 Dodge Pick Up diesel this summer. The previous owner pressed in a replacement ball joint not knowing it was threaded.I had to replace the upper control arm as well as another ball joint. Thankfully I was able to rent the large socket that drives in the new ball joint. A big job, but a big savings in labor costs. Thanks for sharing.

[@zzr1985]

Im on the other side of the planet and have a 1975 chrysler v8 sedan. I had to change the top ball joints yesterday and thought they were push in, i was just about to bash them out when i thought id check youtube for any tricks.... well... your video saved me a LOT of greif!!! thanks so much from down under!

[@aDIYCarGuy]

+gibbut1 It took me a while to realize these were threaded in on the van too, I never saw threaded ball joints before this. It's awesome to hear from down under, cheers!

[@craigohlendorf8173]

Had to replace both upper arm ball joints on my 1997 Dodge Ram Van. Neither 0"Riellys nor Auto Zone new nothing about taking out threaded ball joints or the special socket. Thank goodness for this video. Tried using Pitman arm separator but didn't budge either ball joint, had to use a pickle fork. When I used the special socket to remove the ball joints, the threads on both ball joint threads got stripped out. Had to replace both control arms with ball joints attached. Went from a simple job to a very expensive and long job. Video was a great help even though I had so much trouble.

[@aDIYCarGuy]

Sucks you had so much trouble!

[@adamewp]

Great video helped me with my 1978 dodge motorhome upper ball joints. I had to use fire pb blaster and an 400 ft lb impact gun to get them out. Hand tools to install the new one. Oh ya the Pickle fork worked for me. thanks again for the great video

[@anthonymurphy34]

Really like the down to earth raw style here. High quality video makes it easy to see the entire operation. Thanks

[@pt68picaso]

22:00 Removing the boot, is that really necessary? Won't the boot fit right through?

[@oldemail2331]

thanks for posting! all 3 major auto parts stores in Bellingham, WA have no idea what a ball joint socket is. I was hoping to rent one but had to order one instead. they told me to use a crescent wrench at napa. seems like a bad idea to use anything but the proper socket

[@nmartin5551]

Thanks for doing this video. A couple of year’s ago I came across a 3/4 drive ratchet at a good price. Nothing I knew of I needed it for, but it’s a tool at a great price, right? Just brought home a 94 Dodge B250. I have the ratchet, the need. Now I need the socket!!

[@dannym470]

The factory service manual for my 1990 b150 says to torque down the ball joint first THEN do the castle nut after.

[@fabio3050]

You are a legend man thank you. I have a dodge ram 1500 van trying to fix it up to live out of so I can eventually buy a house and this is a good start to getting it up to par. The suspension hasn't been too good recently.

[@brandonGCHACHU]

How has van life been so far

[@iamgriff]

Cool video, I'm doing upper ball joints on my 86 D150. The video was helpful. I was going to try and use a pickle fork, I'm going to buy a separator after watching this. Lol

[@aDIYCarGuy]

thanks for watching, good luck!

[@MrLiquidscar]

No one now-a-days has the balls to work on these old beasts. Well done indeed. My 88 B350 was the first I had ever seen of threaded ball joints.

[@Dr.Jekyll]

MrLiquidscar, My 1960 Chrysler New Yorker has them. They’ve been around for a long time...

[@ianmorado8865]

Thanks for the video! Super helpful. You mentioned something about the other one not going in as easy and I am at that point where the threads don’t seem to want to catch. Is that the same problem you had and what did you do??

[@aDIYCarGuy]

welcome and thanks for watching, I'm sorry I don't remember...I think it might have been very tight.

[@ianmorado8865]

Thanks I found that the MOOG UPJ was crap. The threads were non existent.

[@ccrider77]

Thanks for the well-done vid. I'll be doing mine pretty soon. Using the Pitman arm separator was a great idea. When putting the tapered end of the joint back into the spindle, I may use a separate jack to lift the lower A-arm instead of trying to muscle it...

[@aDIYCarGuy]

Chris C you're welcome, thanks for watching! sounds good!

[@dansguitarheaven]

Thanks for this. I have finally found a video to remove and install. I have an A body and doing now with correct socket etc. the theory is the same just different sizes. One thing which is a great thing to see is do this while the upper control arm is in the car. Makes for the best vice in the world. Surprised to see how easy it went on. Thanks again 👍👍

[@mikestanley4594]

Im having hell right now trying to get the ball joint threads thru enough to get a nut threaded on.

[@NicolasZontelli]

Im having a weird issue and wondering if anyone else has ran into the same problem. The ball joint socket 2 9/64 only works on the old ball joint but the new ones seems to be just a little bigger and requires a larger socket.

[@juiceybananas5489]

I suppose if one of the upper ball joints is seized a map gas torch to heat it up would work wouldn't it? I got a 99 dodge ram 2500 van and drivers side upper won't move even with a 3' cheater bar on a 18" breaker bar.

[@aDIYCarGuy]

yea it'd be worth a try to heat up the control arm

[@aDIYCarGuy]

Its a tough job. One of mine was actually stripped out and I didn't realize, it popped back out when I was driving but it still held the control arms together.Thanks for watching, don't forget to subscribe!

[@johnmoore260]

What size was the socket? 2 9/64?

[@dronevideosgopro4256]

Do you have the parts numbers for the tools kit you use?

[@PrivateChannel1300]

Great vid! I'm having trouble finding the right socket for my upper though, tried to use a pipe wrench but it won't fit---any advice on what size, technical name, and place of where to get the socket? No one at o'reilys knows

[@aDIYCarGuy]

Thanks! You can get the sockets here amzn.to/2fpgDCu and if you don't have a 3/4" drive ratchet you might need the 1/2 to 3/4" drive adapter here amzn.to/2eTuWk4

[@DashFlicks]

ill try doing it this week. A set of ball joints is around 55 and upper left arm with ball joints included is about the same price. Should i just replace the upper arm maybe? ill still need the pitman arm but i guess i wont need to buy the balljoint socket? thanks man, watched it 3x I have a pretty good idea now.. I am positive my upper ball joint is bad.

[@turboman4736]

Your video explain how to remove the ball joints was spot on 👍

[@brandonGCHACHU]

Thanks Man. Im glad I found your video before I tried to press mine out

[@denisejames2007]

Thx for the excellent video. I thought they were just pop-in but the top of the old one obviously had a wrench on it. They screw in, that explains it. I was able to use a pickle fork but had to give it some serious hits to get it to come loose.

[@IntegraDIY]

Would this be the same for a 1997 dodge van 3500?

[@aDIYCarGuy]

I'm pretty sure it would be

[@MuzzleFlashTV]

how tight did you tighten the ball joint? I screwed mine in and it started to slip after just getting it moderately tight. any suggestions?

[@GoZipper]

Thanks for uploading this video! I was trying to use a pickle fork on the upper and it wasn't working.

[@LeoLove77]

Nice vid but may I suggest that after you jack up your vehicle place your jack stand on a sturdy area underneath the vehicle and lower your jack so the truck rests on the stand not the jack. So if it ever fell as your shaking the van the jack could slip and you could puncture a Line or injured yourself. Never use a jack only and place a jackstand loose. Cheers

[@catsbyondrepair]

what about the Lower ones do they tread in or press in

[@aDIYCarGuy]

I think they are pressed

[@tracysmith8223]

So can I replace just the upper ball joint or do I have to change the control arm and stuff at same time as ball joint???

[@aDIYCarGuy]

you can just do the upper ball joint if that's all that's bad

[@coltonmatney314]

Do the b series vans and the dakotas have the same control arms? 93 dakota needs upper control arms due to threads are trashed and they are impossible to find, these look the exact same and come up frequently when searching for dakota control arms.

[@aDIYCarGuy]

sorry i'm not sure about that...can you cross reference the part numbers that come up for dakota arms vs van arms?

[@dennissecor8092]

Thank you for sharing this video, great job!!!😊

[@peytonpastorino5378]

Thanks so much for this vid. Exactly what I needed because I didn’t know if it was actually threaded or not. Thanks for the link too.

[@NoBs48]

How did you figure out that's what it needed? Did it make one clunk when you turned the wheel all the way one side ?

[@aDIYCarGuy]

Lift the wheel off the ground and grab the top and bottom of the wheel and try to shake the wheel, and watch to see if the ball joint is loose. Or use a long pry bar under the wheel, pry it upwards and let it drop and see if the ball joint is loose.

[@karguy1720]

I just removed the uppers BJ's from my '68 Dart. I had to apply 400 ft-lbs of torque to get the job done.

[@encise42]

Where do you place the jack stands? Jack? I see the jack points but my stands would be too short for anything other than the cross member between the control arms. do I put a jackstand on both sides of that cross member or both on the same side? Thanks

[@encise42]

That reads a little weird, the cross member is a U shape, obviously centered on either side of the middle of the van but on the same side of the U?

[@aDIYCarGuy]

I jack it up from the control arm under the ball joint, can also jack from the frame of the vehicle. Jackstands put on the cross member or frame.....but keep the jack pumped up under the vehicle and put the loose wheel under the vehicle too, in case anything happens, you have many points of safety. A lot of people like to put the full weight onto the jackstands and then take the jack away...makes no sense to me.

[@Kafka451]

Good video.... I've got an 89 Dakota with threaded upper ball joints. I was hoping I could do a tool rent/borrow from AutoZone. Now.. from what I see... I do NOT need to press IN the new ball joint, just screw it in tight. the separator is to just get the old one to release. The bottom joint needs the press tool. Also, do you need to re-bleed the brakes after taking off that brake line? thanks for the effort

[@aDIYCarGuy]

Exactly. and I just gravity bled the caliper, never hurts to bleed. thanks for watching!

[@Kafka451]

its a pain I probably will have to buy that socket to unscrew the joint and then it will sit for years. But, its STILL cheaper than having the shop do it. thanks.

[@Kafka451]

one last question.. was that t he 2 9/64 in socket? I'm only going to by the ONE I need for both uppers

[@AustinHusband-z7q]

Its a Dakota the same?

[@igoski1582]

Great video on the top ball joint and especially pointing out the need for the ball joint socket. This job can not be done without that special socket. However, where is the video of removing the lower ball joint? I am doing both and can not find a lower ball joint video on THIS Dodge B2500. It's extremely difficult and the press from Advance Auto does not have the correct adapters to press it out. I'm going to try and cut the long part off to make it shorter so the adapters may work. IMO, don't try the lower ball joint without a video or knowing what you're doing.

[@aDIYCarGuy]

I didn't do the lower on this van but I did the lower on a ford expedition with that press kit a week ago, I filmed it but the question is will I ever get around to editing it

[@igoski1582]

​@@aDIYCarGuyThanks. I finally got the lower out but it was learned by way of "hard knocks". The problem is the way the lower joint is made. It has to be pushed out by pressing on the stem side, where the nut is. So you would have to use a long press adapter to cover that and the other side has to have an inch or more to come out. With the joint needing all that room makes the press to short to use. To get it out, you have to either have a longer press or a shorter joint. I used a thin cutoff wheel on a grinder to cut off the long stem, making the joint short enough for the press to work. There is no YT video on explaining this so I'm thinking about making one when I do the other side. But all I can think about is how greasy my video camera will get.

[@OverlandOne]

Excellent video, thanks.

[@nicholasgranat2999]

Good job young man!

[@perrysouvana1137]

I first took the ball joint to NAPA to buy the socket but after I showed the thread on the balljoint to sale man there, he told me that not thread and he tried to sell me a press kit. so I returned to our garage and told my mechanic friend. we did press out old one and pressed in new ones and drove home. when I got home I checked and found both sides ball joints popped out of their seats and now I have 1986 DODGE RAM B250 "CAMBERED" van.

[@aDIYCarGuy]

ouch yea the holes might be stretched out now

[@brucefrank6119]

Do you know where I can buy a tap to chase the threads in the arm cup?

[@aDIYCarGuy]

a tap that big is gonna cost more than a new control arm, i'm not sure the exact size but it would be something like this: amzn.to/2y3KFn3

[@pstar692002]

Hey, are you using a Pitman arm Separator? Because I Cant find Ball Joint Seperator tool?

[@aDIYCarGuy]

Yea I'm pretty sure it's technically called a pitman arm separator

[@thediplomasta5891]

There's a socket for that?! You have no idea how difficult it was to do this, without a dang socket! Had to use a giant pipe wrench. It took days. Also, it was 23 years ago. 😞

[@hardworkinpd]

How tight do you screw the upper ball joint into the control arm, what's the torque spec? TIA

[@aDIYCarGuy]

+Hardworkinpd I couldn't find a torque spec for it. Thread it in, then make it pretty tight, but don't overtighten it if you're using a 3/4" ratchet, or it might strip or expand the hole enough for the BJ to pop out while driving. Take it for a drive and check it periodically to make sure it's not coming out. Believe it or not...you will not loose control if it pops out of the control arm.

[@hardworkinpd]

Yeah, I'm a little concerned about stripping the control arm. I'll skip the breaker bar when I put the ball joint back in. Probably try 80-100 ft/lbs. Thanks for the reply!

[@aDIYCarGuy]

Hardworkinpd 80-100 sounds good, no problem!

[@hardworkinpd]

I have another question. As for the ball joint socket. Measuring the top of the ball joint with calipers from round point to round point I get 2 1/3rd" (2.3") and from flat to flat I get 2 1/8rd" (2.11"). I see in your video you use the 2 9/64ths" (2.14"). Is that round edge to round edge or flat edge to flat edge? The vehicle I'm working on is a 1989 d100 and the AutoZone ball joint part number is FA 397, other numbers I find on the AZ box are 10170N and 1514035-P. Do you have an idea on what size socket to use? None of the car parts or tool shops around here have them so I have to order on-line. Thank You Very Much For Your Help.

[@hardworkinpd]

Hey Amigo I know I asked for a lot of info. I went ahead and ordered the kit of 2 from carid. Ran about 40 bucks and I had a gift card so 25 bucks total. Yeah see from my reseach Crysler had 2 different size tops on those upper ball joints. Now watch with my luck neither one fit! Thanks Again!

[@larrykeesee1442]

Rough job..u saved alot of money on that one...Retired Larry in Indianapolis..

[@les3316]

Awesome video love these vans

[@aDIYCarGuy]

thanks!

[@borrachoblanco]

will this work with all ball joints

[@aDIYCarGuy]

This is how to do threaded ball joints. Other ball joints might be pressed and clipped in, or just bolted on. The press kit works with most ball joints.

[@tracysmith8223]

What size ball joint socket

[@thefix2573]

2 9/64ths I believe

[@richardclark9609]

Wish I had that socket when I did my 73 340 Dusters upper ball joints. I used a pipe wrench with about a 3 ft long pipe to extend the handle. Was a nightmare to break them loose but I was younger and strong willed and hard headed. Would never give up till I won. LOL

[@gordogo]

Nice now i will go do mine thanks

[@joshuawilson1867]

Thank you!

[@jonathanpalmer228]

Hey I pressed mine out because I didn't know they needed to be turned out. Am I SOL? Still threads in but not sure if it will hold

[@JournalistMusic]

Man, that’s unfortunate. If your upper control arms and ball joint were threaded and you pressed them out, something got stripped. To be safe I think you will have to buy replacement control arms and a compatible ball joint set, depending on what is available.

[@jonathanpalmer228]

@@JournalistMusic yeah I mean it threats in and you can feel them but idk what they are supposed to feel like.

[@JournalistMusic]

Jonathan Palmer I totally understand what you meant. If they are threaded and you pressed them out, they are most likely damaged.

[@jonathanpalmer228]

@@JournalistMusic yeah, I'm trying to find a new control arm now. It's not going good.

[@aDIYCarGuy]

ebay has some for sale, the new ones are expensive, but there are used ones for sale if you filter by "used". Yea I think the hole will be widened if you pressed the ball joint out. The new one might thread in but might pop out during driving.

[@wilborth5th]

THANKS FOR SUCH A SAVING LIFE $$$ VIDEO, GOD BLESS

[@cabilgibbs]

Thanks Broooooo!!!

[@deangamey2054]

No torque specs 🤷‍♂️... Or did I miss that?

[@thefix2573]

72 ft lbs you missed it

[@glenbarnier]

same van, and about to do the same job :D nice wheels btw and great video

[@jennings20100]

Or instead of using a pitman arm separator use a hammer to separate the knuckle from the ball joint.. I'm just saying....

[@trentonjohnson2948]

Definately needs rotors too

[@DragonKnighte2798]

What size was that ball joint socket?

[@saintsarecoming13]

DragonKnighte2798 2 9/64"

[@geobrown9413]

In a pinch, you can make a socket. Tightly wrap a new one with a 1/4" strap, weld up the ends then weld to a 2" pipe length, make a 3/4" square in the end. Made mine forty years ago and still using it. For those with stripped threads, insert a section of a coke can to tighten it up. In the past I have spot welded (three places) the upper in place just to be sure. Don't linger and it won't damage the joint. The lowers can be easily driven out. Place an anvil* under the LCA edge and drive out (down) with a short pipe length over the BJ. To install, place the BJ on the anvil and drive the LCA down over the joint using a larger dia. pipe section just bigger than the LCA hole. Weld 1/2" pipe handles to those short pipe lengths, much easier to use them. Have done it this way for forty years without issues. *my anvil is a 4 X 4" solid steel block about 8" long. A block of Maple or Oak should also work.

[@angelrodriguez7817]

And why did u rent the press 😵

[@aDIYCarGuy]

because it comes with the ball joint sockets

[@perrysouvana1137]

my friend and I did big mistake by pressed it out an

[@perrysouvana1137]

and now I may have to buy whole complete control arms on both sides

[@rtz549]

Bet you were in for a surprise when you found out you had to bleed the brakes.

[@mragnostic603]

A 2500 has 8 Lug nuts. Mine does.

[@aDIYCarGuy]

yours might have a heavy duty package or something...is yours 4x4? mines a 2wd 2500, it says on the title and the emblems.

[@mragnostic603]

Its 2wd, but a Ram Van. If that makes a difference. At any rate Good vid very informative.

[@maxwelljrdn]

MrAgnostic You must have a '98 or newer van. After 1998 the 2500 did have 8 lugs. 1971-1997 B150 had 5 lugs with a 4 1/2in bolt pattern with 5in pattern optional after 1986 (heavy half). All B250's had 5x5 pattern, and all B350 had 8 lug. 1998-2003 (final run) B1500 had 5x5 and all 2500 & 3500's had 8 lug. However, all '71-'97 B250 conversion vans with the heavy duty suspension group use B350 front coil springs, spindles, ball joints, and shocks but still have a 5x5 bolt pattern. Just a Dodge B-series FYI :)

[@mragnostic603]

I have a 2001. I wouldnt say it is a POS. But it is horrible in gas.

[@aDIYCarGuy]

MrAgnostic I get 11-13mpg...its ridiculous