Two weeks later, and two days before leaving for a vacation, I started the PS axle. I supported the lower ball joint with a jack, undid the upper ball joint retaining castle nut, applied a two-arm puller, loosened, but did not remove the ball joint shaft, and lowered the jack. While the suspension was lowering the upright caught on the upper ball joint's threads, completely stripping the lower threads (insert much cursing).
I completed the re-boot, ordered a new eBay ball joint (Chinese, we'll see how this works), and rented an SUV for the family vacation. Overall I probably still saved money vice taking the truck to a shop, but it's a good reminder that despite how beefily these trucks are made working on them still requires attention and a little finesse vice blind brute force.
Dan
I completed the re-boot, ordered a new eBay ball joint (Chinese, we'll see how this works), and rented an SUV for the family vacation. Overall I probably still saved money vice taking the truck to a shop, but it's a good reminder that despite how beefily these trucks are made working on them still requires attention and a little finesse vice blind brute force.
Dan