Hey all,

Looking to see what is a fair labor price for repairing one lower ball joint. I have the ball joint already..got it for 50 on ebay and was quoted 2 hours. Just wondering if that is fair as I paid 1 hour labor from a jag dealer a year ago to do the upper ball joint on the other side and to me it looks like the upper would be harder to get to. I definitely could be wrong though. Thanks for the advice!

 

Two hours would be about right from my exp experience. The upper could probably be changed without removing the spring, and is certainly easier to press out. Are you changing just the joint, or do yu have the entire member?

 

Just changing the joint. Control arm was already replaced according to some receipts I have so I decided to go with just the joint.

 

Well, As I recall, pressing the lower joint from the wishbone was an exciting event... It involved grinding an edge and making a toll and then pressing very hard. I think you can find some step by steps in the archives, but it seems right that the lower would be more trouble than the upper, especially if the press operation was included.

 

I want to do the upper and lower ball joints soon and have been reading up on it.
I haven't heard of "making a toll". What does it involve?

Thanks, dan

 

I think maybe he meant "making a tool" and it was a typo.

 

tool!
Thanks Boomer.

 

Ross,

Is the tool a section of steel pipe with a cut out used in pressing in the new ball joint?
I bought a pipe nipple from the hardware store which seems the right size. I plan to grind off the cut off.

Thanks again,

Dan

 

Dan:
Yes- As I recall, I used either a 2" or 2 1/2" steel pipe coupling, that I squared the edge and cut the threads out of on a lathe. The threads could probably been cut out just fine with a small grinder "point" on a drill.

 

Could a regular or long socket of the right outer diameter be used for this?

 

As I remember (and again I am getting old and senile) the "tool" had to fit over the joint, and the wall thickness was important in order to fit the edge that you need to push on. On the other hand, I probably did not have a 2 1/2 inch deepwell socket.

 

As far as I understand, this piece has to have a cut out to clear part of the lower control arm. A long reach socket would not sit flush unless you took a grinder to it. I would imagine socket steel is harder to grind off than pipe fitting steel?

 

I would say socket steel is not particularly harder (if any) than pipe steel to grind. Sockets are harder to clean up inside to slip over the joint, and, more importantly socket steel is much more expensive than pipe steel.