I worked at a front end shop in northern Minnesota for 5 years, had one
Vanagon in during that time & all it needed was an alignment.
During that 5 years I did a lot of ball joints, all with a hammer, vice,
drifts & sockets. Often used the torch to get the parts free of the vehicle
(rust)..
We on occasion had people bring a knuckle in because the book said to take
it to a shop & have them press the ball joints out & back in, the boss
would tell them to come back in a couple of hours & we'd use "the press"
(me, at the bench with the vice & 5# hammer) while they were gone.

I have never had to change a Vanagon lower ball joint, is is really that
special or is like the rest of the press in/out ball joints in the world?

Rob
vwrobb@gmail.com

On Sat, Dec 19, 2015 at 7:13 AM, kenneth wilford (Van-Again) <
kenwilfy@comcast.net> wrote:

> John, doing front end work is my (current) least favorite thing to do on
> the van.  Usually folks never have it done because it is expensive and when
> it finally gets done all of the bolts are seized, etc.  As Dennis said, I
> would think about the front end as a unit with the brakes included.  If you
> are going to do a brake job, inspect the front end parts at the same time
> and if they are worn out then just plan on doing everything at the same
> time.  It will save you time and money not having to take things apart
> twice.  Here in the North East the bolts for the lower control arms will be
> frozen and need to be cut out with a sawzall or grinder, the radius rod
> bushings will be completely shot and even the hole in the frame for them
> could be rusted out larger than it should be.  It is a big job and if it
> were me, I would leave it to a shop unless you have all of the tools and a
> 10 ton hydraulic press (lower ball joints).  I don't think you will find a
> video on the lower ball joints because I don't recommend that folks do them
> on their own.  It is impossible without a large press so at the very least
> you would take the front upright to a machine shop and have them press the
> old ones out and the new ones in.  They will charge you $100 and then
> complain that it was super difficult and they lost money on the job.  Hey
> at least you didn't waste time and effort trying to do it and then still
> wound up taking it to them.
>
> Never used the T3 Technique bushings yet.  I know it would make doing the
> front and rear lower control arm bushings way easier (I super hate doing
> those).  But they are quite a bit more expensive (at this point 10 times).
> Are they 10 time better besides the install?
>
> Ken
>
> On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 10:19 PM, John Rodgers <jrodgers113@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Anybody got a link to vanagon lower ball joint replacement?
> >
> > John
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Thanks,
> Ken Wilford
> John 3:16
> www.vanagain.com
>