Well I'm sure the easiest way to cure IFS problems is to rip it all out and throw it in the dumpster (Willys). I have had a lot of steering slop and noise from the front end. I picked up a new idler arm and upper ball joints (all had signs of wear or noticable slop). Idler arm went in fine but it took the rest of the day and every tool I had to replace just one ball joint. Has anyone ever done this before? I bought an air compressor and tools yesterday so I am excited to tackle the passenger side. I have the experience and some more fire power so hopefully it won't take so long. Also how are the front wheel bearings serviced, do the just have to be pulled out with special tools and replaced? Thanks for the help, I think I just had to vent

<font face="Comic Sans MS">I sure hope you're installing lower ball joints at the same time... It'll save you much time and heartache down the road when you realize you should have done that... One of those deals while you've got it apart it's relatively cheap insurance against having to do it again anytime soon...

I assume the ball joints are factory originals and riveted in... Just drill out the heads and chisel them off, they'll come right off... Make sure obviously you've relieved the suspension by putting a floor jack under lower A arm and raising jack platform to level the assembly, and then lower the jack after you've popped the ball joint... Otherwise it can slam down and possibly cause injury... New ball joints should have bolts you use instead of the idiotic factory rivets... Simply use a "pickle fork" and plenty of arm power to seperate the balljoints from the spindle... GM has a special tool you can use but I tried one before and it didn't work worth a hoot for me... Obviously I imagine I merely had a stroke of bad luck with their tool as I'd hope their tool would work, but if you're replacing the little dust boots on the balljoints, you may as well smack 'em outta there with brute force...

I would put a new pitman arm on as well, since they used a stupid design on the IFS trucks, and the pitman arm is not just a piece of steel like the SFA trucks were, the joint is a permanent part of the IFS pitman arm... What a major PITA...

As for the wheel bearings, they are sealed and non-servicable, if they're bad you have to shell out the cash for new ones... I have never seen a rebuild kit for these sold anywhere... I suppose if you're feeling parfticularly ambitious you could go to a bearing supplier, give them the bearings that are inside, ask them for that, and a seal that'd fit and hope you can get it back together... Last time I priced one of these it was in the $100 range, however, your mileage may vary...

While you have your spindles out make sure to double check all the boots on your CV's and ensure they are in good condition... Removal requires removal of the spindle again, at least popping 1 joint out of it... Just much better to double check every single thing in there to help avoid essentially doing the job again, or doing most of the steps leading up to that particular job...

Good luck, and keep us posted...</font>

I guess I should start out by saying, no I didn't replace the lower ball joint. When I do the passenger side I will do both. The manual said to "simply drill out the rivets" I spent about and hour and a half grinding, drilling and pounding. I have less than 110K and they were the originals. Like I said now I have air tools. I picked up an air hammer with chisels and punches, Impact wrench and a air ratchet. I am hoping that this will speed things up, if not I'll make a day of it.
Oh yeah I checked the CV boots and they're looking good [img]images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I drilled the rivets on my old truck out in like 30 seconds...

Best Auto Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote

ball joints are a real PITA, as you're finding out. you just have to keep working on them trying to muscle them out. we tried grinding the head off and punching out the rivets - that didn't work that great....rivets didn't want to come out. we tried tried drilling out the rivets and punching the rest out - the idea wasn't great either....rivets weren't coming out, but they sure had pretty holes in them. finally, we got the torch out and fried the drilled rivets, then we punched them out when they were red hot. that worked.

anyway, i like how jason always makes his ball joint rivets sound like they came out like $#@^ from a bird's butt [img]images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] unfortunately everyone else i've ever known has had a tough time getting the rivets out.

Hehe, well mine did... I used a drill bit that was the same size as the rivet's body and drilled through the head and about half way through the ball joint hole. Then just used a punch and it popped right out. Were you using good drill bits or the home depot variety?

Best Auto Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote

ahhh, i see the difference in our techniques. we used a bit smaller than the rivet a drilled all the way through, then punched [img]images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

let me just say that doing the ball joints in my '94 k3500 was no picnic, still having nightmares over that one
as for the bearings they are non sevicable and i priced mine out at $450.00 per side.starter was pretty easy though, lmao. truck1