Ball joints...

[dhirocz]

So...here I find myself this month in the middle of 4 different projects on my truck.

On an aging vehicle I try to keep in top condition, I normally prefer to proceed with proactive maintenance and repair with a certain approach...go through an entire system and make sure it's 100%. Anal? Yes. But I reinvest some of the money saved on labor and I'm rather thrifty so it works out.

Anyway, the subject here is ball joints. I am waiting on springs for my front end, and already have a list of parts to replace as part of my 'rebuilding' of the steer axle:

-drums and shoes
-s cam bushings and seals
-s cams
-slack adjusters
-brake chambers and hoses
-both spring assemblies
-bearings, races, seals and caps
-pro torque lock nuts...ordered sockets.

I already checked parts availability on spindles, since Pete's and kw's seem to have a problem with flattening the spindles under the bearings at 700k+ apparently, which is where I am now, so I'll be checking for spindle distortion while it's apart. It has started to wander recently too so I'm sure I'll find something worn. I'd rather deal with it before it tears up my steers.

If I go as far as to pull the spindles it would be almost foolish to not put in new ball joints and tie rod ends. Tie rods are pretty self explanatory, however, my ball joints have what looks like a bolt in the bottom side to fit a socket, and seeing that they could be getting replaced, I wanted to ask you guys for any guidance that might save me some grief in replacing them...do they just unscrew from the spindle? If so...that's an odd one to me.

Also, I know on the automotive side that Moog is generally better quality than OEM. While I have no problems with the paccar stuff, I have been given replacements for other things before that don't have zerks (which I hate). Anyone have this problem with replacement ball joints or tie rod ends on these trucks?