I'm replacing the original upper and lower ball joints on both sides of my 2005 Jeep Wrangler TJ with spicer ball joints. This is the first time I've replaced ball joints and I may have screwed up. I used the tapered ball joint adapter for Jeep so the ball joint was pressed in straight. Unfortunately, when pressing in the lower ball joint, I cranked to much to seat the ball joint. The press adapter at the bottom moved slightly off the bottom lip and ended up slightly deforming the non-bearing bottom edge that is adjacent to the rubber boot. The upper seat that meets the c-channel wasn't affected, but there is about an inch on the lower edge that is somewhat deformed. The rubber boot wasn't affected. I'll attach some pics that shows the damage.
My question is: Should I remove this new slightly damaged lower ball joint, buy a new one and install it again or do you think using this slightly deformed ball joint will be fine? Since the Jeep steering knuckle and upper ball joint are off, it will be easy to buy a new lower ball joint and replace the damaged one. The only pain is buying a new ball joint. I have other vehicles so it's not a big deal to wait a week for a new ball joint to arrive. Any opinions or recommendations from the guru's would be greatly appreciated.
My question is: Should I remove this new slightly damaged lower ball joint, buy a new one and install it again or do you think using this slightly deformed ball joint will be fine? Since the Jeep steering knuckle and upper ball joint are off, it will be easy to buy a new lower ball joint and replace the damaged one. The only pain is buying a new ball joint. I have other vehicles so it's not a big deal to wait a week for a new ball joint to arrive. Any opinions or recommendations from the guru's would be greatly appreciated.
