415 days, 10 hours, 8 minutes since Bush is out of office!.
Why They Charge $700 For Ball Joints on an Aerostar
OK. So a while back I took my 1993 Ford Aerostar to be inspected and it got dinged because she needed to have her Upper Ball Joints Replaced. So I got a great big REJECTED sticker for my troubles.
Truth be told...I had a feeling this might be the case, because I'd replaced the lower ball-joints back in 2007, and WANTED to change the uppers then...
...it just looked like a bit more work than I was ready for at the time.
So, since I was not working today, I jumped up this morning, cleaned a little, straigthened a little, and got started on this mechanics job at about noon...
...and the next thing I knew? It was dark...
The reason it took me so long, is because I pulled her around to the back yard, where our ground is eternally smooshy (for lack of a better word).
Smooshy ground is not a good thing for jacking up cars, or for supporting them for them matter.
Keep in mind that 2 tons of Aerostar crashing to the ground would make minced-meat of my tiny human form...and I kind of like my noggin' in it's current un-squished state.
So to keep her from sinking, falling over, and decapitating me or crushing me to death, I had to cut dunnage (wooden blocks) to put underneath my jackstands and my floor jack. (if you look in the picture above, you'll see the chop-saw I used to cut my 2x4's)
WHAT A PAIN!!!
Each time I moved my floor jack, I had to take up,
and then restack, my two layers of dunnage.
and then restack, my two layers of dunnage.
Once she was all jacked-up, I started working on changing the ball-joints.
When I started out, I figured I'd be at it for 2 maybe 3 hours TOPS. That was before I discovered that I'd have to pull the whole assembly out and DRILL the old rivets out!!!
Thank God I have Grandaddy's old vice mounted on my bench!!
Thank God I have Grandaddy's old vice mounted on my bench!!
Here is what the old ball-joints looked like
after I pulled them out and drilled out the rivets.
after I pulled them out and drilled out the rivets.
Here is a close-up of my very neat and tidy drill-motor work.
It was a little difficult, cause I had to use my 3/8" DeWalt
instead of my 1/2" Stainless Steel Milwaukee.
(couldn't find the damned thing)
I got it all figured out on the 2nd one I removed, when I realized that I did not have to drill all the way through the rivets.
On the 2nd one, I only drilled about 1/4 of the way into the rivet, past the top layer of steel. Then I cut off what was left of the rivet-head with a trusty 1920's cold chisel (cut through it like butter), and this allowed me to just pop the arm right off the ball-joint with my hands. WAY EASIER.
The replacement bolts came with pinched-head nuts which made for a nice tight fit. I applied some high grade red Loc-tite on all the threads to make doubly sure those suckers don't go anywhere.
Here's a shot of the shiny new upper ball-joint in place,
waiting for me to put the wheel back on.
waiting for me to put the wheel back on.
I'm patting myself on the back...even if it took me all day to do this thing.
I just saved myself at least $700 BUCKS!!
-The Dickens
