Chevy & GMC Vans

ive seen the top ball joint pop out on a astro before, the tire was laying on its side.

I think I'm going to go ahead and replace all 4. The uppers and lowers on both sides. That should give me a confidence factor of around 100% that it won't happen again any time soon. It was pretty sketchy...

Put new speakers in "Tiny" today...got her all washed and sparkley clean. Nice and sunny not a cloud in the sky (as usual) until I finished washing her then...thunder and within 2 min....rain.... figures #-o

Well, the Smilievan broke. Cherie and I were on our way to a balloon event in NY. At just about the Georgia State line the rearend went out. We made it back home OK. Today I started the process of building an old school custom Chevy 12 bolt with posi.

9dawgs, seeing that makes me so very happy I changed all 4 on my van. That is just scary.

As for what I did today, I too Skip's suggestion to keep the upper door pins in. Powered up the drill press, drilled a small hole through the pin, and ran a cotter pin through it. The only thing is I drilled the hole a little higher than I wanted, so the pin will probably still slide down a bit. Seeing as I have to do the bushings sometime, it is not a big deal as at this point I simply want to stop the pin from sliding out of the top hole all the time. Since I used the old pin from the passenger's side, I could drill the one I just removed in the proper place. I think I will wait and see how this one works though.

Not a van: Installed fresh sway bar links on Eugene. Wife took us out to dinner afterwords, no more popping or clunking. A suspension silent Jeep, wow this is weird.

Wow, Jim. Glad everyone is ok and that the van is not too damaged.

i think i've got a partially dead ignition switch in my 2000. it might explain why part of the instrument cluster lights up and works.

:shrug:

just wish that thing wasn't so expensive.....

and also glad jim's okay after that ball joint.....

9dawgs,
I just read your accident post. Wow, that is scary. I can't believe how long you actually waited before you got home, so many hours of tow truck hassle. I'm sorry to hear that.
My van has nearly 150k on the original joints and I even off road from time to time. Now I'm starting to think I should swap them to be sure of there saftey.

Towed a 15' sidewinder boat home from poco to south surrey.(45 min drive)

Well, the Smilievan broke. Cherie and I were on our way to a balloon event in NY. At just about the Georgia State line the rearend went out. We made it back home OK. Today I started the process of building an old school custom Chevy 12 bolt with posi.

Man,,sure good you weren't up the road more than you were Skip. Glad ya made it back, I guess in one piece.

Took my wifes '98 to work in the rain...picked up a couple of spring compressers to start working on the '99 tomorrow morning...if it's dry out. #-o

Ok, the left side is done! I didn't even need the spring compressor. I thought I would have to take of the lower control arm off to press the ball joint out but I didn't. I just beat it into submission with a 2lb sledge and a tool I modified with a dremel for the application. From start to finish it took about 4hrs (should go quicker for the right side). Total cost was $228.06 with tax. I bought 2 of everything except the tie rod...I probably should have bought 2 of those as well. I also got a good set of sway bar bushings. I'll install those when I tackle the other side on Monday.

I think I got away pretty painlessly considering what could have happened [-o<

Here are some pics of the completed job.


The offending components...


Tools of the trade


Special tools :>/


New lower ball joint (NAPA HD $48.39) & tie rod (NAPA HD $33.39)


New upper ball joint (NAPA HD $36.99)...just a bit tight with the OLV lift


Satisfaction...priceless

Looks good James. I still prefer using the b-joint press for the lower R&R, but glad to see you get 'er done.

I cleaned out the van. Put the back seats in, and put on some new wiper blades. Wife drove the van around a lot today, and I checked the hubs and they were quite warm, but I could hold my hand there with no problem, so I am figuring the bearings are not too tight. I still don't think I will feel comfortable until I have the trip the Harrisburg and back done, not that I want the bearing to die on that trip, that would be very bad.

Good work Jim!

Might I add, I like the look of your van!