Hello all I replaced the ball joint dust cover today (the ball joint was fine)I found the easiest way to do this was to use a ball joint splitter on the upper and lower ball joint ,,,,I left track rod ball joint connected,,,,then the hub just lifted away and of the lower ball joint (no need to remove caliper) enough so that I could remove the old torn ball joint dust cover then fit the new one ,,then I just lifted hub back into place then tightened it all up ,,,I did use a jack to jack up brake disc a few cm's so I cud tighten lower ball joint bolt fully ,,,,to tighten upper ball joint I just used hammer and taped it tighter into its hole , this was enough to allow me to fully tighten bolt,,,fitting the new dust cover was very easy (got one of ebay) ,I added new grease to lower ball joint,,,,no reason why the lower ball joint won't last for many more years now.thanks all

 

my dust cover is torn...I wish I knew how to just change it and not the whole ball joint. The writeup is good, just not as good as text WITH pictures

 

Hello sorry I have no idea how to upload pictures,,,,,,the upper wishbone ball joint is very easy,,,,,,u just take wheel of split ball joint with splitter ,rip dust cover off,add bit of grease to ball joint ,put new one on,,,wheel back on ,,job done

 

I also have a small hole in one LBJ boot. Last summer I purchased a set of four ball joints in anticipation of just getting over it - they have over 100k on them and won't last forever. My personal/professional experience with sealed ball joints is once the boot has failed, no matter how slightly, you're living on borrowed time. First comes the squeaking (usually, but not always) then the clunking (again, not always) then tire wear (but not always caught before...) then separation of the joint, which leads to (usually) the wheel splayed out, damage to other suspension components, possibly to bodywork (fender, etc.) loss of control (which leads to a myriad of other possibilities such as serious injury/death(s).) I'm not trying to be Dr. Buzzkill but for the price of doing it right vs. cheaping out and doing a half-assed repair this isn't the place to take chances.

 

I carefully checked the ball joints ,,,and whilst I was there I checked all the other ball joints,,,,but I see ware your coming from,,,,safety first ,so good advice ,thanks beav

 

I can not find boot replacement with same structure and good material to replace the cracked ones

Anyone have a source ?