Vanagon Upper Ball Joint Replacement (Early Van)

[@kevinselwa8883]

Thanks for the video. It gives me hope that I can tackle my 1980 with torn upper boots.

[@VanAgain]

You can do it. Not hard.

[@bradparsons2664]

could you do all of this without a airgun?? e.g. just breaker bars etc?

[@VanAgain]

Yes but the problem comes in with holding the shaft of the upper ball joint while you tighten the nut down. If you have an air gun you can tighten the nut up so fast that you don't need to worry about holding the threaded portion still. If you are using a ratchet it will start to tighten and then the whole thing will spin unless you can figure out some way to hold it still. The easiest way to do this is to push down on the upper ball joint from above while you tighten it with a ratchet. If you have a special front end set of tools there is one in there that can help you do this without too much hassle. If you are doing it all yourself then you are going to have to push down as hard as you can every time you try to tighten the nut. This will wedge the upper ball joint into the hole and should hold momentarily while you tighten the nut. It is just time consuming, and physically demanding. I have done enough of these to figure out the fastest, easiest, and least physically demanding way to do this job and that is what I recorded for you folks.

[@RyanPerry19]

Ken, what are some symptoms of a shot upper ball joint?

[@VanAgain]

Usually you will see a torn boot before the joint actually goes bad. If the joint is bad you will have play in the joint. If you jack up the van and rock the wheel from top to bottom you will be able to feel the joint moving. That would mean that it is worn out or bad.

[@RyanPerry19]

Gotcha thanks, my boot is definitely torn. Had my wife jump on the van and just below neutral stance I feel like it's the ball joint popping. I hope so at least, pulling it off as we speak! Thanks again! 

[@mrflamewars]

Dual piston caliper or not, the solid brake rotors were a terrible idea.

[@profilename1865]

Has anyone run into this problem with upper ball joints on an 88 (or similiar): there's an allen head key at the bottom of the spindle that you can use to lock it in place while you tighten the nut. HOWEVER, this does not allow me to use a torque wrench to torque the nut to the 80ft/lbs the Bentley requires. Also, no cotter pin hole. So at the moment I have no idea if they are tightened correctly. Which brings me to my next point: The driver side steering knuckle is tighter than the passenger side. New joints installed on both sides. Here's what I mean: if i'm on the driver side and put my hand on the knuckle area, it won't really move. If I do that on the passenger side, I fall on my face because the knuckle gives way. Thoughts? suggestions?

[@artyberkhoff8878]

Who tought you to do this? Every step you did was wrong.

[@VanAgain]

Teach me oh wise sage. I bow before your greatness.

[@kevfuller1]

you need a tripod boss