Jeep Cherokee Ball Joint Replacement part 1 - HD 

Thank you for this video. It help me in changing the ball joints on a 2001 Cherokee Sport. For anyone who plans to do this, here are a few additional tips: - You definitely need a ball joint tool like shown in this video. Even with it, expect to have to use a cheater bar and a large adjustable wrench. I used an Astro 7865 Ball Joint Service Tool Kit with 4-wheel Drive Adapters. - On a 2001 Cherokee Sport, you do not have to remove the hub from the axle. You can pull both out together after removing the hub from spindle. You also do not need to disconnect the tie rod from the spindle. - The top ball joints can be tapped down some to align them properly before using the ball joint tool - If the nut on the upper ball joint keeps spinning on the ball joint bolt, put a floor jack under the protruding part of steering knuckle near upper ball joint to press upper ball joint bolt into steering knuckle enough to allow tightening nut on ball joint bolt. - You may need a forked ball joint separtor tool to separate the ball joints from the spindle. I did. - On our Cherokee, the three bolts holding the hub to the spindle required a 1/2", 12 point wrench.

@jar3817: This video took me from "I can't possibly do this" right into "this is no problem." Great work, and thanks. It took me about 3.5 hours to finish one side (including Sierra Nevada breaks), but now it's done. The video probably saved me hours. Thanks!

The way you took the cv axle off with that joint separator… also the hub with just a screw driver and hammer… 🤯 I wish I watched this video last week would have saved me hours of hammering haha

Dude, thanks so much for posting this. I am facing the same job as well as tie rod ends on my 1999 Cherokee.

Thanks for making the video... I'm right in the thick of it working on my 1988 Cherokee!!!

2wd with no rust, that should be a piece of cake! I live in upstate NY where rust grows faster than your hair. Good luck.

YOU ROCK! I followed the steps and the same balljoint press setup and they both came right out and right back in. Thanks for the great video!

Thank you so much for this video. We have a 97 Jeep Cherokee and I wasn't sure if your work on your 86 would apply, but it was exactly the same. Plus, I ended up renting the same ball joint remover set that you use in the video. Your video eliminated any need for any guess work. I followed what you did exactly, although I got away without have to use the washer shims. Maybe, they changed that between 86 and 97, but I everything else and it worked like a charm. Thanks so much

Man this is the same JEEP I have, a 1986 cherokee. YOU are awesome for making this video. I'll save a lot of dough by doing it myself, and I get to buy more tools!

Glad you found it helpful! I was really worried about doing the job myself but it turned out to be rather simple. That pivoting joint separator was also a must-have tool for me. I don't think I could have gotten the knuckle off without it. I had a hard time finding one locally, so if you have the time you might want to order one online, I've seen them as cheap as $12.

Here's a little FYI to make life easier, put the new balljoints in the freezer over night & heat the knuckle. They will press in like butter, the cold contracts the balljoints & the heat will expand the holes.

Just viewed this video , I am about to replace the ball joints on my 2000 Jeep XJ and it was very helpful specifically pointing out all those areas that need attention on the spindle and brake pad placement among other things

@bigdog813 a little harder. You need to take out the shift motor on the passenger side of the axle (a few bolts) and slide the locking collar over toward the differential. If you don't, and just pull the shaft out, the collar will fall out of place and prevent you from just sliding it back in. Be careful pushing shaft back in so you don't mess up the seal in the axle tube.

@Jackup460 yeah, you can't leave that 90° zerk in all the time. There should be a little bolt plug that fits in that hole to keep the grease in and the crap out. When you go to grease it, you rotate the wheel to make room under the ujoint and you screw in the zerk and add the grease. Then remove the zerk and put the plug back in. My original top joints had zerks, but the bottoms didn't.

@55406david put for ball joints and drive shafts this hand press is ideal. this is a great vid of how to do it.only thing that may hold you back is removing rusted in split pins,do a search on here on how to remove them,there are tricks.. to get them out

I'm in the process of doing this now , your video has helped me alot, worst part is that cup piece never made it to my kit... I bought the kit a long time ago just cuz it was on sale but now im kind of sol... I ended up using a piece of 1/4" flat plate instead, it's been working good so far, it shoul be ok on the ball joint too, good eye on the uneven upper ball joint

@MileyCyrus192 It's a balljoint press. Not specifically for my type of vehicle, but used for pressing any kind of balljoint out. Also works for pressing u-joints.

Thanks for saving me $170.00 in labor just for the right side after buying my own tools from HarborFreight. Great videos.

...I was talking about the bottom nut. As for the top, I don't remember the exact size, but it was much smaller; I had that size socket in a standard set.

Great video guys. Live that shim idea on the top.

I'd have to sell my soul to the devil if i took my cherokee to a mechanic to have it fixed. Great video. Thanks!

Glad it helped. You should check out ebay, you can probably get all the tools you need that way.

@bigdog813 yeah you can rent one. Basically you're buying it and returning it after. I've heard that some of the rental kits have really wimpy presses that bend under the pressure you have to put on them to get the job done.

thanks u just saved me $1,000..thanks again for putting up vid

@HarryHydro Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, this fixed my wobble, but I knew it was the problem and needed to be changed anyway. It started up about a year later, and I'm pretty sure it was the joints on the other side, but I sold the car before I had to do anything about it.

@55406david sure, u-joints are simple. If you don't have a press (which you'll need to get the old ones out and the new ones in) you can always take the axle shafts out of the car and take it to a shop to press in for you. I did that once before I got my press and it cost like $5 because it was like 10 minutes of their time. If you have a dana 30 front axle with the vacuum disconnect for the 4wd, you'll need to take the vacuum motor out and slide the locking collar toward the differential

Yes my DW was immediately gone. Before I couldn't go over 55MPH without shaking my fillings loose, and after I was on the highway at 75MPH no problem.

Thanks for posting the video, nice to see it done before I have to do my own. As for HF tools - I couldn't afford to buy many things anywhere else...and most the stuff works fine. maybe the govt should put a tariff on Chinese goods?

A "must"? Maybe, I guess it all depends. My axle (Dana 30) doesn't have a flat pressing surface. They make special pressing cups that are angled, but I was under a time crunch and didn't have time to get them. You need to press at the right angle though, or the joint either won't go in or will go in wrong. The original nut was 36mm. The new one (Moog) was a 35mm, which I'm not sure they make, so that's like 1 5/16 I think. I used the 36mm anyway because it didn't have to be on super tight.

FWIW, I was always taught not to completely remove the castle nut on the balljoint, but leave it loosely threaded while you pop the joint. It will act as a safety stop when the joint pops and prevent parts flying apart like at 2:28.

That ball joint seperator is amazing. Had to get it from HF after banging on the knuckle for 2 hours n it took 60 sec with seperator

@autophyte I completely agree. I half expected that joint separator to explode in my face before those joints let go, but maybe I got lucky. HF was the only place that had one of these in stock locally and I needed something to help...

Thanks.... like you, I chiseled the hub assembly but I had taken the axle nut off, and the wheel hub did come off but boy, it was tough. I don't think the wheel bearing would be damaged unless I hammered on the hub itself... Thanks!

@Jackup460 That was the problem, it wasn't greaseable, once it dried out it just got worse and worse.

It's an Astro 7865 with 4wd adapters. I found it on ebay for around $35. I've heard cheap presses (like your HF one) tend to bend. Try hosing the pressed surfaces with penetrating oil like PB Blaster and hitting the side of the joint with a big hammer as you tighten the press to shock it loose. Heat will also help if you have a torch.

Great job on the video! It was very helpful to me! Thanks!

Thanks for the refresher .you rock my friend.

poppin ball joints like a boss!

It helps a lot if you put the new ball joints in the freezer overnight... it shrinks the steel down a little bit for ease of pressing....

Great video man. Helped me out for sure!

@dmspit yup, 4wd. Any kind of motion would probably indicate a bad joint. Also look at other suspension and steering parts (tie rod ends, trac bar, control arms...)

@johngrant67 Glad it helped you out! My job took a few more hours than that, but I had some on the fly problem-solving to do.

Nah, I knew it was going to come out like that. I left the axle nut on purposely so it would all come out as one piece. It all had to move anyway so this way I didn't have to wreck my wheel bearing trying to get the hub off the axle. Hope it helped you, good luck!

@nissan501 funny, I replaced a wheel bearing (the whole hub assembly) a few years ago and after that had a really loud clunk when turning and changing direction (like pulling out of a parking spot) I never did find out what caused it, but it did go away on its own. When I took it apart that time the axle nut was not very tight...I tightened it to 175ft-lbs. That was the only difference I could think of...

@Punkmode1 No clue, just found them lying around. You can use anything as long as it makes that press perpendicular....

@battlestarone yeah the cotter pins in each joint stud were totally rusted. I tried to get them out, but in the end just put a big wrench on the nuts and muscled through them.

@1ownjoo2 It's probably an alignment issue. Usually when both tires and wearing on the inside equally you have a toe issue, but it could also be camber issue as well

@halvarez430 If you already hadn't got this done,it's best to do both sides. you don't want to regret it later on down the road. I'm doing this project now on my brother's truck (2000 cheverolet blazer). Bad ball joints can cause tire wear and a lost of control while drivng. Mainly when you hit bumps in the road or potholes.

@bigdog813 that all depends on you. It was worth it to me to save a few hundred dollars and do it myself, but I had the time and tools. If this is your daily driver and you need it working, maybe better to spend the money and have a pro do it..

Good job man.

At least I'm not the only one grunting... Nice video.

@jar3817 I was afraid of that. That's what I did except I didn't have a plug. I just put the straight fitting on, because there's enough clearance for that. I figured. Mine must have been original too. I'm at 145,xxx miles. My bottom had very little play. Enough to fail inspection. Good enough form me.

@55406david (continued...) or else you won't be able to slide the axle shaft back in. This is only for the passenger side though.

I have a 2wd and since i live in Georgia it isn't any rust, so it should go pretty good. Just now there is an amount of up and down play in the spindle that makes a clunking noise. I don't believe they are as thrashed as that lower on yours. Just regular wear for my 320k Cherokee.

Okay, now I know whats causing the shimmy on my jeep lol. But Whenever I turn the wheel, even when stopped, it'll clunk really loud. I was told it had something to do with the axle shafts but I don't know. We replaced the wheel bearings about a year ago, and everything that had to do with the steering looked fine.

You don’t need no special tool hit the side of the spindal a couple of times with a hammer and it will release its . For your ball joint removal tool grease the threads on the tool .

@jar3817 Oh, so yours was a Harbor Freight tool also. Maybe now they're importing better quality tools for situations where they could be held liable for injury or death caused by their tool failing catastrophically.

@55406david i am in the missl of doing my from axle u joins on my xj,take the front shafts,get new splicers and take the lot to garage,the amout of force needed to pres out the fron axle shaft u joint is huge,and can split the cheaper hand presses you see in this vid,i took my shafts to local friendy garage that had a 24 ton press,they didnt use the press just puthe the shafts on the bench and viced it down ans thrashed the hell out the joints,i if yo dont have a proper bench,dont bother.

@MYM45ONTUBE Yes this fixed my second instance of DW. The first time was my steering stabilizer. Takes yours off and try moving it by hand. Mine had a dead spot in the middle that didn't dampen at all. Changing that fixed the problem for a few years until the ball joints got bad enough. Also check your tierod ends, control arm bushings and your trackbar. Make sure your wheels are also correctly balanced. Mine was all stock as well.

@MileyCyrus192 Its a solid axle even the 2010 jeep wrangler has u joints on the axle

I really wish you had shown the slop in the wheel that made you suspect the ball joints in the first place. Thank you for the video, Tools you used and your well worn condition of the front end really helps a lot as to what to expect, again thanks.

Haha that *POP* sound is like the best thing ever.

@1ownjoo2 That's really odd. Are all the wheels perpendicular to the ground? Take a big framing square and check that. Do you have lockers installed in your differentials? Jack up the front end and try spinning a wheel, does the other one spin the opposite direction? The VC makes sense in that situation, not really sure what else to check...

Thanks for posting this video. I wanted to see if I could do the job myself. Just need one of those tools. maybe I could rent one from the parts store.

@halvarez430 nope, I just did the driver's side. At the time I sold this jeep the passenger side needed doing too but I let the new owner do that one.

Good video! Very clear, thanks.

On mine, those three 13mm bolts on the hub(not shown in this video) are a huge pain. I have one of three loose so far.

you should take it to a alignment shop and tell them about the issue and they can install a offset ball joint to fix the positive camber in the jeeps

Thanks for the video. Did this fix the "death wobbles"? I have a 90. I found, if the rear leafs are curved upward (worn) it creates a feedback (rear steering) that can send the truck off the road at high speed.. Now I have a clunking from the front when it's cold. I think it's the ball joints. 220k miles..

Good luck! Glad I could help.

Thanks for posting, very helpful

Oh no! Did you use any kind of penetrating oil before? I hosed mine with PB Blaster for a few days before breaking them loose.

@buggsyspam nah, just grease to help press it in.

@jar3817 Yeah grease makes sense but I had to ask. I swear it looked like Loctite.

@battlestarone One of the times I did my ujoints I just hit them with a sledge hammer to get the old joints out, worked like a charm.

How do you know if your ball joints are bad without taking off the wheel? How to check?

exelent video master thanks

@riverlifeva i have the same problem im in the middle of ball joints u joints and hub bearing ill let u know if u post back

@TheBobby73 Harbor Freight sells cheap rubbish. The puller you got was probably made of cast iron, not forged steel as it needed to be. With jobs like this which need many tons of pressure applied ,you have to get the expensive, properly made tools.

not knowing this vid was here , I just paid pep boys to do this ,they installed the cotter keys 1/2 an inch below the bolt. it started knocking a half hour after I picked it up they said I needed new u-joints .I replaced both u-joints and it still knocks I'm wondering if they(ball joints) can be installed off center or somthing like that . when i hit the breaks something gets thrown off center causing my u-joints to knock?

@MileyCyrus192 That's the way they were back before CV joints! Remember this Jeep is a 1986...

@jar3817 u think ball joints are hard, try pressing out anchor pins on a mack

Great Video mate, Cheer's.

@jar3817 I noticed that when replacing my ball joints today. The old one had no fitting. The new one came with a 90* zerk fitting, & I didn't realize it was hitting the U joint. I thought I messed up the spline or something, because I was trying to turn it & I would hear a metal squeak & it wouldn't turn but an inch. I replaced it with straight fitting. Even then I can't grease it with my gun. A 45* zerk fitting will still hit. Do you have any suggestions?

Hello Good morning, I am writing to you from Palma de Mallorca, there are no mechanics here to help me with this work, so I will have to do it myself, could you tell me where I can buy this press? greetings u thank you very much✋

@amandareed79 I got Moogs from Advance Auto Parts Upper: K3134T Lower: K3137T

@mjlogan2001 Thanks, I'm glad it helped you!

@jar3817 hey for the passengers side would it be harder to get the shaft out what exactly can you damage when puting it in if your not steady

muy bueno , informativo y de mucha ayuda el vídeo. gracias.

Thank you do much for you help it help me a lot

@CharlieRandom it worked great, probably saved me hours

@riverlifeva Maybe if they installed the wrong joints for your car there might be a possibility it could move, but that seems pretty far fetched. What are the circumstances of this knocking noise? How are you moving when it happens: accelerating, braking, turning, slow, fast? Is it constant or intermittent? Can you make it happen on purpose consistently?

By the way, did you think that the hub assembly was going to come out separately, when the whole axle came out????? That's what i've been trying to do!

@lol123321123321 $58 for the upper $63 for the lower. I got Moogs, and didn't bother screwing around with cheap non-name ones since I didn't want to have to do this again for a very long time.

That's the great thing about editing video, I can condense the 5 hours of swearing and head-scratching in 10 minutes of me looking like I know what I'm doing. Freeing the knuckle will probably be the hardest part. That pivoting press I had was a gift from the gods, well worth the $17 and even the 60 miles I had to drive to get it.

@jar3817 is it worth doing it myself if i may just f it up and it ll just be a bigger pain

Hi, thanks for the great vid. Did u drain your front diff flulid when you took the axle shaft off. I just changed it and dont really wanna do it again if possible. It looks like ur dron diff cover is still on so im guess no, PLease reply thanks.

How about the ball joint sep. from harbor freight did it work well?

Did u do both sides my right side is bad but dont know if to do both sides

What brand off press is that? I got mine from Harbor Freight Tools and it keeps bending.