Tom,
I am not aware of the lower ball joints on Vanagons, only tie rods.
Replaced those myself recently, fairly easy to do, just have to be exactly
the same length(marking threads or measuring helps). And didn't need the
press at all. Those joints are tapered and will seat when torqued to
specs.
Leon
85 Subwagen Westy

Tom Young wrote:

> Hi all:
>
> A few days ago I installed new upper ball joints and shocks on my '81.
> It also needed the lower ball joints done but even though I'd bought
> the joints themselves, I decided to have the "experts" do the job.  So
> I took the ball joints to the local wheel works emporium, asked "how
> much" and "how long", and was told "1 hour per side at $75/hr and
> we'll need the car 2-3 hours."
>
> "Great!" sez I, and sign on the dotted line.
>
> To make a long story short, it turned out to cost a *lot* more than
> $75 x 2, and they ended up having the car for 2 days.  The culprit, it
> seems, was that
>   a) the "experts" had no in-house press and,
>   b) no shop in the local San Francisco East Bay area could
>       press the joints in.
>
> Now, I thought pressing on and off ball joints, at least on older
> cars, was a common enough event; what the *heck* makes the Vanagon
> lower ball joints so difficult, if anything?
>
> TIA.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----
> Tom Young                      tomyoung1@home.com
> Lafayette, CA 94549        '81 Vanagon
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----