Front Lower Ball Joint Replacement

[John Ford]

Hi guys/gals,

I own a 2012 Ram 1500 rw drive. I am trying to replace the lower front ball joint and there appears to be a cap on top of the ball joint itself. It is circular with 4 notches in it. How do I remove this?

 

[ram1500rsm]

You may need to use a chisel? They're not serviceable as far as I know but there are some who have done the job. Granted I don't know anybody yet that can say the replacement BJs lasted as long as the stockers can last.

The way I see this my stock LCAs have 99k miles in them and they're still going strong like the eveready bunny that's with 35's, then 37's and back to 35's I'll have a hard time buying Chinese replacement LCAs or messing up with Chinese BJs when it's proven the factory made these rigth. Sure they're a little more expensive than the Chinese counterparts but damn they can take a beating more than fine

Good luck with the replacements.

 

[John Ford]

Yeah got 215k on this truck before one went out. Might be a job I have to pay for

 

[daveray9]

Whens the last time you had an alignment. As long as those bolts arent frozen its a pretty easy job to just swap the arm.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[Fast69Mopar]

Hi guys/gals,

I own a 2012 Ram 1500 rw drive. I am trying to replace the lower front ball joint and there appears to be a cap on top of the ball joint itself. It is circular with 4 notches in it. How do I remove this?

Do you have a ball joint press with the correct adapters? If not this is going to be quite difficult. I have an OTC Master Ball Joint Set and it has the correct adapters to remove and install the lower ball joints.

 

[John Ford]

This is the cap I am talking about. Image attached. Have a ball joint press but that to part I think will have to be chiseled off

 

[NJMOPAR]

Easier to just replace the lower control arm.

 

[caulk04]

What's the new part look like? That setup looks to me like you remove the 4 rivets and the whole thing slides out of the arm.

Otherwise, you grind off that lip that is staked and press it out like normal. Replacement would most likely have a snap ring.

EDIT - Confirmed it's the second option.

 

[John Ford]

to replace the lower control arm, how hard is it to take out the spring and put it back in