How To R&R Ball Joints and Steering Rods!

[Pumpkn210]

I recently have done all the steering links, ball joints, shocks and springs in my 79 210. Heres a write up on the steering and ball joints!

 

Remove the cotter pins and nuts from the tie rod ends, center link, idler arm, and steering box. They are all ball joints, you use a pickle fork to pop them out of the sockets. This is explained on the box and I forgot to take pics of it so :P

 

These are the tie rods:

 

 

This is the center link, it is what the tie rods are connected to:

Pass Side:

Driver Side:

 

After they are out lay them and the new ones on the ground to make sure they are correct.

 

 

when I did the ball joints I was also doing the shocks and springs so I removed the struts from the car for the next steps. This can be done easily by removing the nuts that hold the struts to the inner fender, and the nuts and bolts that hold the lower ball joint to the control arm. On my car there are 4.

[Pumpkn210]

With the struts off the car and an impact gun removing the ball joint mounts was easy!

 

Remove Bolts:

 

 

Tap With Hammer:

 

 

Pops Out:

 

 

Now You've Got:

 

 

Put in Vice:

 

 

Remove Cotter Pin:

 

 

Remove Crown Nut:

 

 

Put in Vice so that the ball joint is free and the mount is held, and hit ball joint stud with hammer till it busts loose:

 

 

Then Remove:

 

 

Double check its the right part, and that you have a new cotter pin and grease zerk:

 

 

Put New ball joint in mount, tighten crown nut, put cotter pin in and bend it:

 

 

Repeat till you have 2 done:

 

 

Bolt mount back into strut, you may want to clean it up a little with a wire brush to make it a little easier:

 

[Pumpkn210]

Put in the Grease Zerk:

 

 

Pump It Up:

 

 

 

It is always a good idea to mark the parts as you take them off/apart. This prevents confusion when putting the pieces back together.

 

Now Bolt the struts back into your car and your in business. You can use a tape measure and a friend to do the alignment roughly. You measure between the tires in the front and the back, using the tie rods to adjust the toe in and toe out. Make sure to not do all of your adjusting on one side cause you can run them out till they fall apart! Happy wrenching!

 

 

Did I miss anything?

[Logical1]

Awesome write up! All the pics are very helpful :) Looks like the exact same process I did on my 70' 510 Only thing else I would recommend is taping out the old ball joins with a nut on the bolt as to not bang up the threads, even though they are old, they may be salvageable for another project :)

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Good writeup & pix. This answers my ball joint ? i had..not pressed in.

[datsun brat pack]

nice post :)

[Jennifer]

 

 

It is always a good idea to mark the parts as you take them off/apart. This prevents confusion when putting the pieces back together.

 

Now Bolt the struts back into your car and your in business. You can use a tape measure and a friend to do the alignment roughly. You measure between the tires in the front and the back, using the tie rods to adjust the toe in and toe out. Make sure to not do all of your adjusting on one side cause you can run them out till they fall apart! Happy wrenching!

 

 

Did I miss anything?

 

hi pumpkin!! i couldn't send you a pm but im rebuilding my front suspension and was wondering what's toe in and toe out? and adjusting the tie rodss....do you mean tighten and not tighten as much? please and thank you!! :D

[DatWifey]

As far as the toe-in and toe-out is concerned, this site breaks it down pretty well..... along with the camber and caster. I can't answer the rest of your question though ;)

"When a pair of wheels is set so that their leading edges are pointed slightly towards each other, the wheel pair is said to have toe-in. If the leading edges point away from each other, the pair is said to have toe-out. The amount of toe can be expressed in degrees as the angle to which the wheels are out of parallel, or more commonly, as the difference between the track widths as measured at the leading and trailing edges of the tires or wheels."

[Jennifer]

As far as the toe-in and toe-out is concerned, this site breaks it down pretty well..... along with the camber and caster. I can't answer the rest of your question though ;)

"When a pair of wheels is set so that their leading edges are pointed slightly towards each other, the wheel pair is said to have toe-in. If the leading edges point away from each other, the pair is said to have toe-out. The amount of toe can be expressed in degrees as the angle to which the wheels are out of parallel, or more commonly, as the difference between the track widths as measured at the leading and trailing edges of the tires or wheels."

 

thankss wifeyy!!!! :D

[DatWifey]

No problem :)

[nismo dr]

alignment angles

 

toe:

 

 

camber:

 

 

caster:

 

[Jennifer]

alignment angles

 

toe:

 

 

camber:

 

 

caster:

 

 

thanks nismo :)