Upper and lower ball joint removal and replacement on a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 4×4 with the torsion bar suspension. Hub bearings and brakes also being replaced.
Upper and lower ball joint removal and replacement on a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 4×4 with the torsion bar suspension. Hub bearings and brakes also being replaced.
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Thanks for the comments Kona! You are correct on the torsion bar load and
I will put an additional notation in the video for that. That is why I
placed my jack under that control arm for sure. And yes, removal of that
lower ball joint was difficult on mine as well to the point I mushroomed
the end. If you notice at around 11:22, you can see I had to sawzall the
end of the shaft because I couldn’t remove the nut once it had released
from the knuckle!
First, I want to thank you for this great video. Helped me allot! You
have a massive amount of patience to make this video. Just did the same
job (upper control arm/ball joint, lower ball joint, bearing hub,
stabilizer bar end-links, and tie-rods) on my 2002 Ram 4×4 with torsion bar
suspension. I would like to make a few suggestions for anyone getting
ready to take on this job. First, breaking the lower ball joints loose was
near impossible for me. Nothing seemed to work including pickle forks, air
hammer pickle forks, various sizes of hammers, and copious amounts of
cussing! I ended up just using a sawzall to cut both lower ball joints,
removing the knuckle, and knocking out the ball joint shaft from the
knuckle. Be careful not to cut the knuckle since that would be a very
expensive screw up. Of course still need to press out the other part from
the lower A arm. Second, even with the torsion bar key bolts backed all
the way out, the torsion bars are still under a tremendous amount of load.
The only way to completely release the load from the torsion bars is to use
a special tool (looks like a c-clamp). The first side that I did I used a
2.5 ton jack only to support the lower A-arm which blew a seal. Jack did
not collapse on me, but I decided to start using a 6 ton bottle jack for
added protection. This video is great if you want to take on the challenge
yourself. Just be careful of those torsion bars.
Thank you!
Great video!
You’re welcome, glad it helped!
Ive read that the front drive axle had to be disconnected and cv axles
completely removed…glad thats not so! Also have been dreading this task
on my own 02′ ram because of my lack of knowledge about torsion bars. Thank
you for explaining that step!!!!!