Lower Ball Joints and Coil Over Shocks

[bbh]

Hi,
I am new to the forum so I hope I am posting in the right place. I have a 2003 Liberty Sport with 106K miles. It started making a loud banging noise on the right front when hitting a bump while turning left. I jacked it up and I can see that the lower ball joint boot is torn and I can lift the joint about a 1/16 of an inch, seems pretty lose. With the car sitting on the ground it appears to be leaning to the right a little more than one inch (that is I have about and inch less clearance between the tire and wheel well on the right than on the left). Also the front tires are wearing on the inside toe. The tires are about 6months old and have noticeable inside toe wear. I am thinking I need to replace the lower ball joints both sides and replace the coil over shocks and then get an alignment. I have searched the thread and the internet and cannot find really good instructions. One thing I was trying to figure out is can I do this without separating the upper ball joint? If I separate the lower ball joint, tie rod, remove the lower clevis bolt and sway bar linkage and remove the axle nut can I pull the steering knuckle off the axle with separating the upper ball joint? I saw some pictures on the internet where someone used a puller to pull the steering knuckle off the axle but they were completely removing the knuckle so the upper ball joint was loose.

Any help with instructions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[tommudd]

Hi,
I am new to the forum so I hope I am posting in the right place. I have a 2003 Liberty Sport with 106K miles. It started making a loud banging noise on the right front when hitting a bump while turning left. I jacked it up and I can see that the lower ball joint boot is torn and I can lift the joint about a 1/16 of an inch, seems pretty lose. With the car sitting on the ground it appears to be leaning to the right a little more than one inch (that is I have about and inch less clearance between the tire and wheel well on the right than on the left). Also the front tires are wearing on the inside toe. The tires are about 6months old and have noticeable inside toe wear. I am thinking I need to replace the lower ball joints both sides and replace the coil over shocks and then get an alignment. I have searched the thread and the internet and cannot find really good instructions. One thing I was trying to figure out is can I do this without separating the upper ball joint? If I separate the lower ball joint, tie rod, remove the lower clevis bolt and sway bar linkage and remove the axle nut can I pull the steering knuckle off the axle with separating the upper ball joint? I saw some pictures on the internet where someone used a puller to pull the steering knuckle off the axle but they were completely removing the knuckle so the upper ball joint was loose.

Any help with instructions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Measure from middle of the wheel to bottom of the flare on each side in front and report back . New yours should of been about 19 inches, that way you can tell how low you are sitting. I'll bet you are at least an inch lower .
Now on to ball joints, why don't you want to remove the UCA/UBJ? Nothing to remove it and then you can get it all apart to work on it good

 

[bbh]

tommudd, Thanks for the reply. I already have the front tire off and car on stands so I cannot measure it now. I did measure it before and I do not remember what the distance was but that the right was a little more than one inch lower.

As for the upper ball joint, I was just trying to avoid removing one more part and potentially tearing the boot. Looks like to get the lower ball joint out I have to pull the whole steering knuckle off. I was hoping I could leave it attached to upper ball joint, pull it off of the axle and rotate it forward so I could get to the lower ball joint. If you say it is easier to just separate the upper than that is what I will do. Please advise.
Thanks