The other way to test the joint is to look at the boot that covers it.. if it has a huge rip in it, you've got to replace the joint.. replacing the joints is costly, dirty and time consuming.. it's best just to replace the entire axle. only about $90 cdn from NAPA per axle.

-Richard

By Adrian (Evocivic) (203.42.97.141) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 03:32 pm:

It's just as easy to do it without popping any of the ball joints saves damaging them). Simply disconnect the inner end of the lower control arm and the radius rod from the control arm (or the radius rod from the front subframe if you have an early model with the radius rods welded to the control arms). Once the control arm is hanging free you can pop the driveshaft out and there is plenty of movement so you don't need to disconnect the tie rod. It's about a half hour job (working slowly).

By Jonny (24.68.208.246) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 03:12 pm:

Richard if you want to you can bring your car out to my place and I can have your new axles installed in no time... another easy way to seperate the balljoint without wrecking any rubber is to hit the part of the spindle that the ball joint slips in to.. if you hit it hard a couple times the balljoint just pops out.

you can call me at 250-818-4538 richard

oh ya I live out in Langford

By bruce (68.156.75.21) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 02:59 pm:

if the boots ripped replace it, take the car to a large parking lot, slowly do tight turns each way, if you hear a popping noise you have a bad joint.

By lazy (165.228.57.19) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 02:54 pm:

is there any way to test the joints?

By Chaffneue (Chaffneue) (64.180.112.150) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 11:37 am:

Thanks bruce.. especially for the heads up on the joint separator bar.

-Richard

By bruce (68.156.75.21) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 11:17 am:

check out the local auto parts store, you should be able to get them, but if your ball joint is bad you have to get a whole new lower control arm.

By lazy (165.228.57.19) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 07:41 am:

yeah, I used a ball joint separator and split my boot, now i need some new ones... could anyone help me out?

By bruce (67.200.12.115) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 06:37 am:

not hard to do really, remove the center cap. if there is a cotter key, lift the car up, take the tire off, remove the cotter key, put the tire back on, lower it, break the nut loose, lift back up, remove tire, loosen nut for tie rod, smack top of nut to loosen, I use a 2lb sledge hammer, usually one good smack loosens it, make sure the nut is at the top of the threads, the nut should protect the threads from damage. remove nut and move rod out of the way. to get the lower control arm off, loosen the nut, again to the top of the threads, I use a large cold chisel between the top of the nut and the driveshaft, be careful of the rubber boot on the ball joint, you could use a ball joint bar but they tend to rip the boot. Again with the slegde, hit the chisel to pop the ball joint free. remvoe nut. then what I do is take a screwdriver and put it into one of the holes in the sides of the lower control arm, step on the screwdriver to remove the lower control arm off the strut. (I do this alone alot, improvision). then take the nut off the end of the driveshaft, pull it off the driveshaft, put a pan under the other end that goes int othe tranny, yank the shaft out, you will loose the oil out of the tranny, slide the new shaft in, put it back together. don't forget to fill the tranny back up with oil. (not tranny fluid but motor oil) hope this helps.

By Chaffneue (Chaffneue) (64.180.112.150) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 08:49 pm:

Could someone just post some simple step by step instructions for getting the driveshaft out of the car and then back into it again. My CV boot on the passenger side is gone, but fixing and repacking CV joints isn't usually a very productive task. I'm just going to buy a whole new driveshaft and do the job. I have a Haynes manual, but it's all in quirky english and so brief as to make it hard to follow. Thanks your your help!

-Richard