Chevy & GMC Vans

Here are a few pics showing the upper ball joint which separated from the upper control arm on me the other day. Due to the Parking lot where the van is now parked having some maintenance done on it today and tomorrow this repair is going to take longer than i had hoped for due to the fact that repairs like this are frowned on and I need to keep a lo-profile, These three shots were taken with the cell phone a few days ago when the van was still out on the street and so the pics are not the greatest.

1st pic shows is a shot straight on...


2nd pic shows the part which ( attatched to the steering knuckle ) popped out


3rd showing whats left of the ubj ( upper ball joint ) still in the uca ( upper control arm ) and the part which popped out.


Because of the stealth needed in this repair my plan of attack is to do one side at a time. Any time I've had the van on jack stands its always been both sides.

1, Is there any problem putting only the drivers side up on a jack stand and throwing a jack under the control arm for support?
2, What if any caution needs to be exercised with regards to the coil spring, remember when I originally took the drivers wheel off ( doing my initial check ) i had the van up on the oem jack and when I took the wheel off the lca dropped a bit until pressure was on the abs wire. I didn't have another jack to support the lca until a neighbor came out of his house and brought one over to support the lca, I was thinking that the tension must have been out of the coil spring before supporting the lca because shurely the abs wire wasn't preventing the coil from fully extending, if it was then I guess I got lucky, am I looking at this correctly?
3, When I get to the other side my plan is to put the van back on a jack stand, support lca, back off the castle nut 1 or 2 turns, pop the connection apart using a threaded bolt 2 nuts and a washer using a large socket ( as shown in the Haynes manual 10-6 ) here's a pic...
then drill out the top rivets and remove the ubj then re-install new ubj connect bj stud and tighten to spec add pin.

The only other question really is that because of the vans age I am thinking this is a good time to replace the lbj's as well providing i can sneak the time in, if so, is the renting of the bj press a necessity? does the lca need to be removed for this?

I realize these are alot of questions and that some have been answered in other threads, however those other threads may have been overlooked by those who may be able to give info to this thread and so it would be nice to have that info as well, tia

Having just done this I can give some answers.

First, have you even greased that BJ? Man, that is a lot of rust

1, Is there any problem putting only the drivers side up on a jack stand and throwing a jack under the control arm for support?

I don't think there would be a problem doing one side at a time, but for safety sake use a jack stand not just a jack under it.

2, What if any caution needs to be exercised with regards to the coil spring

I would suggest threading a heavy chain through the coil spring and control arms using something to connect the ends so it is snug. That will keep it from accidentally flying out.


3, When I get to the other side my plan is to put the van back on a jack stand, support lca, back off the castle nut 1 or 2 turns, pop the connection apart using a threaded bolt 2 nuts and a washer using a large socket ( as shown in the Haynes manual 10-6 ) pic to come.. then drill out the top rivets and remove the ubj then re-install new ubj connect bj stud and tighten to spec add pin.

That would be the process. I used a pickle fork, but would use the approach you are planning both in your situation, and now that I have the new BJs in since I would not want to damage the boot. Once you build that little tool, could you put together a list of parts and a pic, as I would like to put one together. I used an angle grinder, but that did some damage (ie slicing the ABS wire in two)

The only other question really is that because of the vans age I am thinking this is a good time to replace the lbj's as well providing i can sneak the time in, if so, is the renting of the bj press a necessity? does the lca need to be removed for this?

In my opinion if one has went, do them all. I would not even consider taking the lower BJ out without the press which you can get from C-tire in their loan a tool program by paying the price for the tool when you borrow it, and then having that refunded when you return it. No the LCA does not need to be removed, in fact having it attached to the van will make it easier to use the press as then all you need to do is focus your energy on pressing out the BJ rather than also holding the control arm since it would still be connected to the van. I hope you have a good breaker bar and a pipe available since you will need it to get the LBJ popped out, at least I did.

With that BJ looking that bad, I suggest you plan on replacing all 4 BJs, if not now, soon. OR you can try putting JB weld in a grease gun and give the others a shot to fill the voids. (just kidding)

Never thought of JB Weld :-k NAW........lol

Once you build that little tool, could you put together a list of parts and a pic, as I would like to put one together.

If I end up makin one I will put together a list Jim.

First, have you even greased that BJ? Man, that is a lot of rust

LOL, looks like I never have, but in fact It has seen the grease gun several times ( altho not as of late ) Living in this brine bath called "southern ontario" plus the dirt and gravel and mud I see weekly certainly takes its toll on parts.

astrozam wrote:Never thought of JB Weld :-k NAW........lol
First, have you even greased that BJ? Man, that is a lot of rust

LOL, looks like I never have, but in fact It has seen the grease gun several times ( altho not as of late ) Living in this brine bath called "southern ontario" plus the dirt and gravel and mud I see weekly certainly takes its toll on parts.

I know what you mean with the salt, but that looks like the boot was completely shot so the salt water got up and in, or you were giving it salt water injections. Man, even mine which had not been greased in who knows how long looked less rusty than that.

As for doing them, it isn't that bad a job. You will find side 2 goes much fast than side one.

O.k, i'll keep the chit chat brief and throw up a few pics, things went o.k but this job is a pita... i ended up grabbin my 12vdc deep cycle batt and inverter plus my dad's dremel. I'll be honest, trying to use a drill ( and I even had a 90 deg attatchment ) still sucked, there is just NO ROOM even with the upper control arm wedged down all the way, now if you had an 90 deg air drill it might be o.k but an pneumatic air die cutter would be the best bet. This is not a 1 hr job, in fact you can count on at least 3-4 hrs of cursing and swearing on your 1st side, now that I know what works I should be able to knock that time in half for the other side ( notice I said SHOULD! )

I'm not going to assume everyone knows where to put their jackstand or jacks for this job, so if your wondering why I am showing these pics, you now know.

position of jack stand drivers side just behind upper control arm ...


position of floor jack to support lower control arm ( this must be left in place for entire job )


looking down on top of upper control arm with ball joint removed ( thats right, I showed that M&*^##55%^$r who's boss )


looking up at bj ball stud ( with castelagated nut still on ) still needing to be pressed out of spindle...


Remember that little tool they said you could make to press the above item out? well for those that do... here it is, and it works nicely


Thats all for tonight slackers, hopefully some pics tomorrow of the install, now its time for a few

I would Definitely recommend using a spring compressor !

The power contained in those coils will cause the van to jump up and it may fall off the jack supporting the lower control arm. (creating damaged rotors/ backing plates) Plus, after you have replaced the joints it will be very difficult to get both upper and lower bj taper shafts back into the spindle to get the nuts on, due to not enough weight pushing down.

Be Very careful with coil springs as they can take your head off.

holy smokes you've snuck under the (my) radar on this repair Keith. i don't check the site for a few hours and you've got the tools and the job almost complete.

as for the coil. there was little to no compression left on the coil as soon as that upper broke, less when you jacked up the van. don't worry about flying coils.

everything else appears to be going way smoother that I would have anticipated. very neat little tool for doing the pressing.

and that jb weld comment scares me now. something i've never heard of and i wonder how many actually do that. it's right up there with spray foaming body panels and skimming with bondo

I sure feel bad for you guys that live in the salt belt.

Great job! I'm with you on the drill. I tried, and failed. That is why I used the angle grinder. It worked just fine, but needs to be held firmly. Maybe quicker than a dremel.

and that jb weld comment scares me now. something i've never heard of and i wonder how many actually do that. it's right up there with spray foaming body panels and skimming with bondo

DISCLAIMER: In NO way should JB Weld be used in this manner and should only be used as per manufactures instructions. It was intended as a joke and I can not be held liable for someones lack of commonsense. =;

How's that? Can we make this rule 6b?

O.k, got the drivers side ubj in today, basically went in without a hitch. Now NAPA had two ubj to choose from the economy cost 20 bones and the premium went for 60 bones, being as I never want to have to do this job again ( even tho it would be easier because the bj is now held by 4 bolts instead of rivets ) i went for the premium brand, they didn't look 3 times as goodbut they did look alot better than the eco's...

ubj in its new home all snug as a bug...( back to the cell phone,lol )


and from underneath attatched at the spindle...


Now a smart man would have put the wheel back on and called it a day...but Noooooooooooooooooooooooo! it wasn't to be my dad came out to see how I was making out and took one look at my brake pads and asked when I planned on changing them,lol back to NAPA for their eco brake pads cause these will be changed again relatively soon and there alot easier right? well not exactly. See the first set drivers side went on relatively easy so far so good, so we popped the drivers tire back on jacked up the pass side blah blah blah things were going o.k except we had a little problem getting the bushing on the lower bolt to stay seated in the spindle hole so the caliper could seat down properly on the rotor then we looked at the bushing a little closer and noticed it was all cracked so we took it out and made our own outta some junk my dad had in his basement by the time we got it made it was getting dark and we just finished up in time, took the van around the block and all seemed well... more tomorrow, right now its food and brewski time

i want to have you here with me the next time i do anything on the vans... you've got some kinda luck not shearing any bolt heads off my friend. especially on our salty vans

Well, now that wasn't that bad after all, was it? I know it's a little late but did you take a look at the upper control arm bushings? I've had to replace mine on both sides. My ball joints are still good. And at 190xxx miles. Might have something to do with your ball joints getting NO GREASE. I grease everything at every oil change. It takes less time to grease everything than it does for the oil to drain.

crash wrote:i want to have you here with me the next time i do anything on the vans... you've got some kinda luck not shearing any bolt heads off my friend. especially on our salty vans

Well lately my luck in that dept hasn't been too bad Rob but there was that time not so long ago in the dead of winter when I was just going to change out my t-stat and.................. But i'd have no problem coming down to help out if needed.

Smiliesafari wrote:Well, now that wasn't that bad after all, was it? I know it's a little late but did you take a look at the upper control arm bushings? I've had to replace mine on both sides. My ball joints are still good. And at 190xxx miles. Might have something to do with your ball joints getting NO GREASE. I grease everything at every oil change. It takes less time to grease everything than it does for the oil to drain.

You know I did in fact look at the control arm bushings skip because I remembered you mentioning it in another thread ( think it was rileysowner's) they certainley don't look new, and I was only able to try moving the upper drivers sideways for play it didn't seem to be bad to me altho the rubber is now almost 400,000 km old so how good could it really be LOL.

Other than slapping a new serp belt on today any other work I do on it in the near future will have to be done elsewhere just to keep the neighbors happy.