He could have cracked the hub, he damaged the wishbone bolts, he definitely damaged the bolt holes that ensure the balljoint is held in. He's certainly a cowboy.
🤣@@J-D Let me guess, you'd have bought the $600 tool from Ford, written off the profit from the whole job, put the tool in your toolbox and probably never used it again?
@@timjohnun4297 that's the problem with reading into what someone is saying. Just bad technique in his part, didn't chill the part, didn't hear the hub, no lube, not even wd30, hitting bolts into the holes, gunning bilts before ensuring they're threaded ( one of the suspension bolts clearly binds before he tightens it fully, ) skipped the heat shield and shim, gunned every bolt and didn't check a single one with a ratchet let alone a torque wrench. No lube on anything. Need I say more? His idea may have worked however it could have been done better.... and that vehicle is definitely not road safe.
What I find impressive is how Ray has a lot of problems and things that aren’t so straightforward but doesn’t seem to get to stressed and always keeps videoing. I know that I would have thrown the camera at times but I’ve never seen Ray get frustrated with getting the shot. Great job Ray.👏
@@Drekulviin I would make a great deal of sense. Not that I have seen it but it seems like he has a guardian angel. I have been in stressful situations regarding the machinery I was in charge of. I would be covered in grease and crap and a coffee was enough to make me go off the rails let alone having to worry about filming it lol
Fine job Ray, I have one of these fine vehicles waiting on my rack for tomorrow morning. I am in Ohio and there are holes in the subframe and none of the bolts will budge...I'm planning on cutting anything in my way getting to the trans pan to replace the lead frame. I guess its going to be a well planned out controlled slaughtering
We have a saying, here in Britain; these ‘special’ tools are sold in stores with ‘big windows’ for a reason - so they can see us coming! Well done for finding a way around it. Excellent video.
Many years ago I did a break job on a sierra, which stated I need “specialist ford tool 09”. £30. 😮 It was a ‘C’ spanner, but what I actually used was a the shank of a screwdriver to wind in the piston.
As I said in my comment to part 1, if you use longer lengths of studding, a 3/4" drive socket (or cup as you used there) big enough to fit over the balljoint and a heavy gauge plate under it, you can draw the balljoint all the way in without risking bending the flange, or damaging the threads. I've replaced lots of them using this method, when I was maintaining a fleet of Transits in the UK.
A perfect example of how to do it the easy way. Unfortunately Ray either doesn't read all the comments or he doesn't like suggestions. I've made suggestions on a few videos but it made no odds. Unfortunately he's his own worst enemy sometimes.
Or just stack half a dozen washers on each stud between the nut and the flange, so he can use the nuts to drive the joint all the way home without running out of thread on the stud.
one stooge neither learns, understands physics, nor is he humble enough to learn from mechanics that do the thing daily, even diy knows to prelube , preheat, prefreeze,,,
When I worked for a company called break parts (a division of echlin vehicle parts) when we pressed anything we used WD40 it provides a little lube but dries out over a couple hours.. we did this on clean drilled holes when we pressed in studs.. with WD40 it took 2000 pounds pressure.. without it, it took almost 2x the pressure
Ray is the true Master Mechanic! Great work around getting those new ball joints in! Working on different types of cars, Ray knows how to adapt and tackle the tricky jobs.👍
I'd LOVE to see a collab between you and Watch Wes Work on two different vehicles. One from his home turf and one from yours. I mean, from the other side of the screen, you both seem to be doing good work( I'd be happy to bring my car to either of you), but the commentary about the other guy's regular working conditions is destined to be LEGENDARY.
Never tried fitting the ball joint before the bushings. Don’t know why, but I always do the two bushings first, then the ball joint. Glad you remembered about not tightening the front one until the suspension is at normal height. And explained it in American, too, so there’ll be less Ree about it, when people don’t understand it. Nice one, Ray.
To help anyone reading, and for the next one you do, for the re-install all you need is the correct diameter closed cup out of your run of the mill ball joint press kit and the fit is loose enough I've been able to use the cup and my air hammer (snap-on current gen) with the standard hammer head bit and drive them in. Just make sure you either use studs or you can even red neck it and use screw drivers or longer bolts from around the shop to line up your holes. The way you do it here bends the flanges. My way uses the surface area around the joint evenly and is pretty fast! Keep turning out them hours brothers
Y calentar el orificio que hace que éste se expanda y abra, facilitando la introducción del cuerpo de la rótula. No olvidar un lubricante, para evitar fricción extra o recalentamientos si el diámetro es pequeño. Cualquier interpretación, será a vuestro propio riesgo. 😅
Dry Ice generally available in metro areas, possibly even still available at Baskin Robbins. I once made the mistake of going to my sisters for dinner, bringing a quart of ice cream, with a chunk of dry ice in the bag..... put the whole bag in her freezer... by dessert time we had a quart of concrete... two days in freezer before it would yield to a scoop. Memories.@@gimmeaford9454
Ray as ever, your substitution superpower hit a home run changing a ridiculous expensive tool install into a semi-basic tool exercise. Your analytical skills are awesome. Respect from downunder.
9:16 My favorite trim tool for so many different things and yes, it works wonderful as well as the bigger kind of pry bar trim tool has worked very well for other things as well that you don’t want to mess up
There was a spacer between the old ball joint and the knuckle. Now that the new ball joint has already been pressed in, my “expert hindsight”😊 wonders if it needed to be in there.
"Adapt and overcome" would be a great mission statement for your shop Ray. Your ability to create the means and methodology to overcome obstacles daily exhibits a high level of practical reasoning and logic. Troy is fortunate to have you as a mentor.
What ever work, some tools have to be modified to get the job done. Ray's videos is like a video book that he can go back to as many job's don't go the same way and help let the customer see what he did to fix the problem and when he looks over the vehicle's to access what needs to be replaced, what is more important to fix now and needs attention a few months down the road as he looks out for customers pocket. That's why he has a great following, a family run business is great.
Hi Ray, I noticed on the video where you removed the ball joints on this van, there was a thin piece of stamped metal sandwiched between the ball joint flange and mount. I'm guessing these were heat shields to protect the ball joint from the heat coming off the brake disc. I see you didn't reinstall these with the new ball joints and I hope it doesn't lead to premature failure of the new ball joints.
Did a Volvo that had the same design, except Volvo uses an adapter you simply hammer on. I used a large socket and hammer. Next time I will order the adapter, its cheap enough. Same deal with order of operations to make everything fit. I found the ball joint wasn't seated completely, tap and tighten until the bolts stay tight. First time I did one of that design but common sense tells you what to do. This Volvo used an aluminum LCA, the ball joint was part of the arm, but the new arm did not come with it, thanks Moog!! The BJ hole was closed end too.
If you lived in the rust belt you might put never seize on the ball joint before inserting it. And this would assist the next owner of the ball joint when he gets it from the scrap yard.
Hi Ray. About those press-fit ball joints, what about heating the steering knuckle in that area with some FIRE! Yeah, fire. Because expanding metal gets hot. No, wait, that’s not it. Hot metal expands. There we go. Language. 😊
You young guns and your battery non torquages are still a wonder. I've never felt failure when clickages are noticed. Keep than new speed mechanic stuff on the regular my man. We respect those things.
Corner break the top edge of balljoint with segmented abrasive wheel and apply high temp copper antiseize. 50% less force needed. Contrary to popular belief, antiseize will allow pressfit to hold better by eliminating galling of dry assem😊bly.
You're impact reminded me, i need to charge my batteries. I'm replacing the bolts on the suspension of my utility trailer with some wet bolts, and my impact won't break the old bolts loose without heating them with a torch first.
Those kind of bushings are a pain but...... Creat a slight chamfer on the first 1/4 inch of the ball joint body with a flapperwheel (on an angle grinder) . Polish off the chamfer with fine emery. Smear assembly grease around all the press fit areas. Still goes on tight but wont bend flanges or chance wiping out threads. . I would have used the original bolts that you first tried but a nut at the flange. That way you can hold back on the bolt while tightening up the nut . this assembnbly prevents the chances of tearing up the mounting threads. I never use a power tool when pressing in ball joints and bushings. A spanner gives a better feel for what is happening as the press fit task is done.
If you are ever doing the wheel bearing, strut and ball joint on a Transit, Ford sells a pre-assembled steering knuckle and strut assembly with it all on there already.
This is where experience and smarts save the day. Overall, a difficult job but through it all, you persevered.!!! Very impressive all the way around. Didn't have to buy a $600 tool either!!! It would be an honor to just observe and help you where I could.
Next time you have a job like that put the ball joints in the freezer and apply a bit of heat to the knuckle casting - makes it easier to get the ball joints in to seat
Ray, I know mechanic work is not easy. You did a great job improvising with the tools you have, you make it look easy. I really like watching your videos on RU-vid, it's very educational. 👍
Even if Ray has a freezer at the shop, most of the time he gets the new parts as he is working on the car. Doesn’t have time to wait a few hours for the part to get cold enough to shrink. Ok if you get the part today an won’t work on the car until tomorrow. You still have to remember to put the part in the freezer. LOL😮👍🇺🇸
I used to use the same method when installing the top ball joints into Mitsubishi Rosa buses. I had a set of 3 bolts that I would use to align the holes, tighten them until they were snug, then swap them out for a thinner bolt that went through the threaded section of the control arm, and put a nut on top. Then I could tighten the crap out of them without risking damage to the threads in the control arm. I did damage the threads quite regularly, on the bolts, but saved a ton of time from not having to remove the control arm. And I could just bin the bolts when done
So much of that front bumper support assembly seems like the engineers forgot that they needed those crash bar supports until they were almost finished and just threw it in there at the end.
They actually are. The transits here in europe do not have those. And since this is a european design, the USA version is probably redesigned for American regulations.
Wow the second ball joint you did went so much smoother. I really didn't see the flames bend. Although I am a little bit inebriated right now. I think you did a great job. I hated doing press in ball joints.
Wondered why you didn't use two impacts working simultaneously? That would have put equal force on the part, assuming you kept the part with equal pressure through your skill of impact operation.
Had to do exactly same job few months back only difference is mine were rusted into the metal sleave of the bushing so i just used a grinder to cut the arms off.
great method to press in the ball joints! it is bad how the front end is damaged and you have to adjust mounting parts. great video, can not wait for the next one!
Rayyy, lover your videos, but I think you forgot to put back the little metal covers / spacers which were under the ball joints :/// anyway, best of luck!
changed my diff on E46 M# and had to improvise and built a custom tool to extract the diff bushing in the subframe....extra time and effort to figure it out but worked!
Yeah but you forgot installing the heat shields from the old ball joints that go in the square holes behind the ball joint seen at 1: 54 and 9: 59 min.
I'd put the ball joint in the freezer overnight, heat the socket hole with propane flame then slip the ball joint in quickly. Might need to run the two bolts up to lock it into position while the joint and the socket resume normal size and lock together.
