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Got my CZP ball joint on. Pulled the whole steering knuckle off and took it to a machine shop to get the old ball joint pressed out and these new ones pressed in. So far so good. Lets see how long these last.
I read this thread a few days ago before doing my left lower ball joint today. I, like everybody else found that the the size of the pipe bushings included with the O'reilly rental ball joint press tool were either too small or too large to allow the ball joint to be pressed up into it. So being the master of improv that I am I searched the garage and tried a number of old hub bearing races, misc pipe, etc. and finally found the solution.
I used a 2" electrical conduit pipe coupler with the O' BJ press "C" clamp. It's perfectly sized ID and OD except I just had to use a small grinder wheel on the drill and take of the top of the threads. The old and new ball joints fit perfect. $4 and no trip to Harbor freight for their cheap press master bushing set (they didn't have one in stock anyway) or being ripped a new one by a machine shop to do it.
I spent way more time trying to solve the dilemma than it did to actually do the job.
In the end it's all good, and cheap. Oh BTW the only place local I could find that had a ball joint (came with cone) was Auto Zone (duralast brand) for ~$50
Last edited by mr.badratchet; Mar 4, 2016 at 05:04 PM.
How many miles have you driven so far? Both of those failed on my Z with 1200 miles. I could be that 1% that gets the 1% failure rate on parts (which seems to be the norm for me).
How many miles have you driven so far? Both of those failed on my Z with 1200 miles. I could be that 1% that gets the 1% failure rate on parts (which seems to be the norm for me).
Got my CZP ball joint on. Pulled the whole steering knuckle off and took it to a machine shop to get the old ball joint pressed out and these new ones pressed in. So far so good. Lets see how long these last.
CJs, how much did the machine shop take from you to press the old one out and new one in? I have my knuckle off the car and was going to bring it in to them.
CJs, how much did the machine shop take from you to press the old one out and new one in? I have my knuckle off the car and was going to bring it in to them.
every machine shop will have their own price. I think i paid 80 to have these ball joints pressed into the knuckle and whiteline bushings pressed into the lower control arm.
every machine shop will have their own price. I think i paid 80 to have these ball joints pressed into the knuckle and whiteline bushings pressed into the lower control arm.
Thanks CJ. Just needed a ballpark number. Did they do fine with the lower control arm bushing? I known u need a frankensocket to press it in.
every machine shop will have their own price. I think i paid 80 to have these ball joints pressed into the knuckle and whiteline bushings pressed into the lower control arm.
Do you mind taking a picture to show us how much thread engagement the ball joint threads and the nut have after you installed the control arms?
Thanks CJ. Just needed a ballpark number. Did they do fine with the lower control arm bushing? I known u need a frankensocket to press it in.
Not sure what they used, but its a machine shop. they have all sorts of adapters and if they dont have one, they fabricate one. Some places are scared to touch aluminum, but this guy did a great job pressing everything in.
