Questions before Leveling

I am about to level my truck with bilstein 5100's and a TGC 1" spacer in the rear. I figured while I was at it I would replace the UCA's with mevo's as well. My plan is to do it Friday morning (may do the rear after work on Thursday) so I can get my tires mounted on the stock wheels and get the alignment at the same time.

In the past when separating the ball joint from the knuckle I have hit the knuckle with a hammer to separate it but I have heard on these 4th gens that it could damage the knuckle. I have a pickle fork but I don't want to damage the boot on the stock ball joint. How are you guys separating them?

What point should I torque the UCA and ball joint? I am assuming it needs to be snugged up, put the wheel back on and torque to spec once it's on the ground under load, is that correct?

I have no concerns with the install, just want to be sure I am get the torque right and the way it should be done without damaging the new parts.

Im doing the exact same thing and would like to know as well

found this information:

Remove the upper ball joint nut and use appropriate puller to disconnect the ball joint from the steering knuckle. Do NOT strike the aluminum knuckle with a hammer! The factory service manual specifically states that striking the knuckle to loosen the ball joints or tie rod ends is prohibited. Striking the aluminum knuckle can damage it.

Disconnect hardware and remove upper control arm from vehicle. Do NOT allow the knuckle assembly to hang by the brake line / ABS wire

Tighten ball joint nut to 55 ft-lbs, align castellated nut with hole in the ball joint and install cotter pin. Do NOT loosen the nut to get the cotter pin to align.

Grease the upper control arm assembly once installed.

Reinstall wheels, tighten to factory specifications

Lower vehicle to the ground. Tighten Upper control arm hardware to: 130 ft-lbs. Do NOT tighten the upper control arms when the vehicle is hanging in the air, the bushings will bind and cause premature wear.

Looks like I may have to use the pickle fork after all. I only have 8k miles on my truck so hopefully it won't be too hard to separate the ball joints.

I used a dead blow hammer, worked fine but it was stuck and took a few hits.
Could not hit it very hard being the angle it is at amyway.

Did not read that right, I did not hit the knuckle I hit up on the a arm.

I followed this video and got it pretty quick. Spray some wd40 on it the night before a couple times, and a couple times as you work the other stuff to get there along the way during the install.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GpLJIln6VBA


Sent via telepathy