Weekend Help W/Ball Joints

[WardL]

I am replacing my ball joints with Cobra Valley joints today and having trouble completely removing the old rubber seal cup. The old cup must have been glued in to the upper control arm at the factory. I've got 99% of the rubber cup off but finding it very difficult to pick every little piece out of the control arm socket. How important is it to get all of this out? The instructions don't talk about using glue or difficulty of removing the old boot. Of course, I don't want to allow any dirt into the ball joint, so I think I can get a reasonable seal with a little of the old boot left in there.



And Happy New Year to everyone!

[Mark IV]

Use a wire brush type attachment on a drill.

[WardL]

OK, thanks. I need to replace the boot on the steering tie-rod. What year and model should I as for at the parts store to match the SPF boot?

I had a wire brush on a drill. Maybe I need a smaller brush. Thanks again for the help!

[DanMartin]

Just email Randall at Cobra Valley....he's great with supporting his products. He may have some tips (although the wire brush one seems like a winner).

[Jake]

Ward,

Let us know if the high speed wobble on the steering wheel goes away.

Jake

[WardL]

Jake,

With the help of everyone's suggestions last summer I found my tire was out of round. It was so bad I could spin the tire by hand while the front was jacked up and see the tire move back and forth. Michelin gave me a new tire for $100, balanced and mounted which I thought was a deal. The car smoothed out very nicely. Next I'll be checking the ball joints and let you know.

[akfish]

mine where siliconed in also, the best way for me was to use a pair of needle nose pliers ,grab one end of the left over silicon and sort of roll it up around the pliers worked really good,the new boots are different,they don't have the extra rim that seats in the control arm,which is fine for the top a-arm but the bottom will form a dam around the new ball joint that will eventually fill with water,dirt,so I just filled the void with some more silicon.

old on the left,new on the right




you can also make your own make shift press to remove the old ball joints these are some concret anchors I had ,but you could use some all thread.

[WardL]

I borrowed a spreader from O'Reilly's for free. Thanks for the pictures. Have you driven it yet? Mine will be on jack stands until March for the weather to clear.

[akfish]

No,have to finish up my intake gaskets today, install new sway bars,set ride hight and get alignment, two or three more days should be ready to roll.

[akfish]

well...the ball joints and alignment made another reduction in vibration,more so than the tires which also helped allot.I didn't think they would help as much as they did, I was surprised.
I was fine with the way the car drove before ,the wheel was a little bouncy but it didn't bother me much,after researching I kinda got possessed with seeing how much vibration I could remove from the wheel.
The car feels tighter more connected to the road ,the wheel doesn't whip back and forth so much when you go over a bump, I would recommend doing the up grade.

[jhv48]

If you want the car to feel even more solid, install the Cobra Valley adjustable shocks, springs and sway bars.

[nicho]

Did you buy the cheaper ball joints or the more expensive ones .

[akfish]

I don't want to take over WardL's thread,just trying to help. I went for the more expensive ones,and I also did the sway bars,and rear shock mounts,I may do the spring/shock later.