Yup, now would be a good time for this, and also maybe to think about an easy brake upgrade, too. Grab a set of spindles, rotors and calipers from an '86 or later van, and put them in. It all bolts right up, no cutting, welding, or explosives needed. You will notice the difference. And, if you do all this stuff all at once, you can save money on alignments. Do it once, get one alignment. Open the front end up severeal times, need several alignments.

  There have been those who have said to leave the lower ball joints alone - no one has ever had a failure of that part. Milage, usage, age of the van, and YOUR comfort-with-old-parts level will help decide that.

  Oh, and don't forget new wheel bearings while THOSE are off, too.

Roger Van Till <rvantill@SBCGLOBAL.NET> wrote:
  I'm planning on pulling apart the front suspension on my 81 to put new
lowered springs on and replace control arm bushings.
Should I go ahead and replace ball joints and tie rod ends while I'm in
it deep?
I believe everything down there is original and 25 years old.
All words of wisdom will be appreciated.

Roger Van Till
'89 Westy "The Moose Lounge"
'86 GL "Sugaree"
'81 L "CoJack"
www.busesbythebeach.com
http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/rainfly.htm