Another BALL JOINTS/IDLER ARM/PITMAN ARM

Searched on this...but this is more specific.

I'm replacing all 4 ball joints, an idler arm, and pitman arm tomorrow on my 98 Blazer LT 4whl Dr.
I have a Haynes manual which isnt THAT great for it. Those of you who have both books, is the CHILTON any better? AutoZone didnt have it for me to check out.

OK HERES THE MAIN SHIT.

I have ALL parts, plus a pickle fork I've borrowed. I've read all the other common posts, best move seems to be using a chisel to remove the rivets on the original ball joints.

I'm leaving work in a few hours, and have access at work to ANY tool I could possibly need. Can you tell me any other tools that would be helpful to have so I don't need to come in again tomorrow to get one?
AGAIN replacing 4 BALL JOINTS - PITMAN ARM - IDLER ARM.

also - what is a decent size chisel for the job? havent seen the rivets yet.

PS - dealer wanted $1800 for the job. private shop wanted $700. I'm doing it for parts cost of around $200.


THANK YOU TO ANYONE THAT ASSISTS!

PS - will be photographing the procedure to post later for better info.
I always love HOW TO posts with PHOTOS~! :)

Need the 18mm for brake and hub bolts - not a standard size.
36 mm axle nut socket.
Idler much easier with the correct puller (Autozone has the free rental kit).
Pitman not needed - no greasable joint (only on 2wd).
Jack or block under the lower control arm cause that CV axle will be hanging way down otherwise. Use a block of wood and hammer to free that axle from the hub with the nut on and out on the end so you don't wreak the threads.
Oh, before you jack it up, loosen that axle nut with a long breaker bar.
Have fun.

so its definately neccessary to remove the hub to do these jobs?

also, I won't need a puller for the Idler arm you said?

No, you DO NOT need to remove the hub! What he was referring to, is that the joint won't clear the control arm unless you remove the axle nut and push the axle in until the joint will clear the control arm. The joints will need to be popped with the fork so that the knuckle will give enough room to push the axle in far enough. As he said, careful not to pull the axle apart, make sure you are pushing the axle in as the knuckle comes outward. You'll probably understand it better when you're in there doing it and can see the taper on the CV joint and how it gives more room the more it's pushed in.
Edit P.S. I think you'll need a pitman arm puller, the idler can be separated with a fork. If I remember right, I had to pull the steering box to get at the pitman arm because of the frame.

The pitman arm is a crash item, (does not wear out) and should not need replacement unless its bent or otherwise damaged.

On my 98 Blazer the pitman arm has a wearable joint, same as the idler, and the replacement DOES have a grease Zerk.

Only my 98 2wd has that type pitman - the 4wd does not so maybe they gave you a 2wd pitman - if so I'd be looking at those ball joints cause they are diff for 2 and 4wd!

OK, need help.

In the middle of the job....lots to tell for later.
BUT
IM STUCK.

I have the upper balljoint replaced, and now have removed the nut from the hub, and have tried beating the shaft out to no avail. I also have the nut off the lower balljoint as well, and have sheared off all four rivets.

But I dont know where to go from here. HELP PLEASE!

That's basically what this thread is about. There's several suggestions here:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=542145


Those things can be a PITA. Try spraying some penetrating oil on the splines of the half shaft. Let it soak in and then spray a little more. Hold a 2x4 over the shaft to protect the threads and then beat the hell out of it with a BFH. After it breaks loose and starts to move back, remove the three bolts ( 18mm if I remember correctly) in the back of the hub and work it off over the shaft.

so in other words, the next thing I have to do is get the drive shaft off the hub spline correct?

that being the case, why do you have to remove the three hub bolts? Im not following. a few replies earlier 83T/A98Blazer said you DO NOT remove the hub.

can someone explain this a little better?

also, whats the next step after this spline has been removed?
as I said before, I've already sheared off the lower rivets, and it's nut...but can't seperate the control arm from the ball joint at all. why is that?

I did this job on my 89 4 wd s-10 blazer and it sounds the same as yours.

My procedure as far as I can remember was to slacken the big front axle nut first and then to jack the vehicle up. I then removed the disk pads and unbolted the brake caliper and hung it out of the way. I then removed the brake disk. Then I removed the 3 18 or 19 mm bolts from behind the steering knuckle. I then pulled the hub/bearing assembly using a big 3 legged puller - it pulled right off. A slide hammer might work here but I had the puller. When using the puller put the nut back onto the drive shaft end to protect the threads should the center of the puller slip. I then pulled the brake splash shield off. Now I removed the tie rod end split pin and nut. I did the same with the upper and lower wishbone balljoints. Now the I split the tie rod end ball joint and then I split the top and bottom wishbone balljoints with a wedge and lump hammer. Now I was able to pull the steering knuckle out. Watch the oil seal at the back of the steeering knuckle. This might not be a bad time to replace this bearing oil/grease seal. I was able to use a white plastic plumbing end cap fitting to drift the new seal in place. it is one of the wide threaded plastic blanking fittings that have the square male end to them - it fitted perfectly. Check out Lowes plumbing department. The bottom balljoint had been replaced before so that was easy. On the top balljoint I drilled out the rivet heads and drove them out with a suitably sized drift. I started with a small drill to drill a pilot hole and then used bigger drills. If you are careful you can use an angle grinder to grind down the head of the balljoint securing rivets but don't cut into the wishbone itself.

I hope this helps.


Mark

I should add that the reason that I was stripping the front end down was to replace the wheel bearings and I decided to replace the balljoints while I was in there. It was so much easier to work on the balljoints with everything out of the way. The second side took one hour to get down to get the steering knuckle and to get down to the balljoints.

once again, Im getting complete conflicting info here.
can you do the job without removing the hub? or not.
and if so...whats the next step? just remove the shaft from the spline by hammering it out? As I said, I sheered the 4 rivets off, but cant seem to seperate the ball joint from the control arm. Its not budging. Why is that? I would think I'd be able to at least loosen the ball joint even if I couldnt lift the control arm completely off the ball joint without moving the driveshaft out of the way. Anyone know why I cant seperate the control arm from the lower balljoint?

When I did mine I just pulled the hub assembly off, it doesn't take that much longer and it gave me complete access to the lower ball joint. I used a three jaw puller with a little persuasion from a hammer, switching side to side. Once the hub was off I just used a punch to drive the rivets out from the top and the ball joint popped right out.
There is another link that may help that Blazee listed above - here is what I put in that post:

Originally Posted by billibong
I just went through all this over the weekend, myself. Whern I had problems pulling the passenger side hub assembly I used a three jaw puller and was able to break it loose. Make sure that you have the three 18mm bolts removed from the back and the 36mm hub bolt that is on the axle. Spraty the threaded axle down liberally with penetrating oil, and then put the three jaw puller on the hub with the bolt on the axle shaft. As you tighten the bolt on the puller it will pull the hub assembly off. It isn't the easiest job, but it gets it done. I also had to help the hub assembly along with a little pursuasion from a hammer on the back of the hub assembly.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

I have the same chevy 4X4 blazer. I needed to replace ball joints and read in some peoples comments that I didn't need to remove hub to do it. But when I did it the other day I replaced the upper ball joints no problem using cheap ball joint splitter and 3lb small sledge hammer. But when I got to the lowers found that I did have to remove the hub because I needed to push the axle in enough for the knuckle to raise hight enough for the ball joint to clear when I popped it out. Also I have read that this truck doesn't have pitman arm and that even if does pitman is not a part that wears out but I do have a pitman on my truck I am replacing tomorrow with a moog pitman I got for 60 bucks, because where the pitman attaches to the relay rod there is movement, the pitman hops as the steering is turned right and left which can cause play in steering. I'm new to this sight and am new at doing my own vehicle repairs but have always been fairly mechanically inclined and had my brother to help which definitly sped things up. Hope something I've said helps