Can anyone who has ever done the ball joints on a TJ before confirm whether there adapters are actually needed or not?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002SRGW0/?tag=wranglerorg-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002SRGW0/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Ball joint adapters?
- Thread starter Rook
- Start date
Glad you told me this. I didn't know AutoZone had the Dana 44 adapter kit. I assume it comes with their typical ball joint kit they loan out?
No, the standard ball joint kit doesn't include the Dana 44 adapter kit. You have to get it separately or get the non-standard 27089 ball joint kit which does.
I'll have to ask for it. When I go into AutoZone and look at the tools they have for rent they only show one ball joint press in the pictures, nothing more. Maybe the Dana 44 adapters are something I have to ask for.
Have the kit numbers I gave above handy and call around to the various AutoZone stores in your area to see if they have them. My local store didn't carry the 27165 adapter kit but another one 5 miles away did Chris. I only needed the adapter kit since I already had a ball joint kit.
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Will do! Thanks for letting me know. I had no ideas some autozones had the adapters.
I borrowed mine from what was then Checkers, now O'Rileys. Just told them what I was doing and they gave me what I needed.
An alternative is the kit from Harbor Freight. I have replaced several sets of ball joints on a couple of jeeps(my YJ and TJ). Work well for u-joints also.
An alternative is the kit from Harbor Freight. I have replaced several sets of ball joints on a couple of jeeps(my YJ and TJ). Work well for u-joints also.
My HFT ball joint kit didn't quite completely survive removing/installing my last set of ball joints. I finished the job with it but I ended up deep-sixing it afterward, it was bent up enough that I wouldn't have trusted it for another job.
I hear ya. I have a lot of their stuff but almost all of it is stuff that if it breaks after one use no big deal.
I've considered purchasing the HF ball joint kit. Some of the reviews paint a bad picture of it, but the majority of them say good things about it. From what I understand it's poor and improper use that causes the HF unit to fail. I'm told if you use it correctly there shouldn't be any issues.
Yeah, I will probably buy the HF one. I'm assuming that the HF one doesn't come with the correct adapters though?
That may not be the same HFT ball joint kit I had but it sure looks just like it and the adapters in mine didn't do the job. That's why I had to borrow the Dana 44 adapter kit from AutoZone. I recall that the adapters in the HFT kit were flat on both ends and the TJ's Dana 30/Dana 44 front axle requires an angle at one end to work which the Dana 44 adapter kit from AutoZone has.
Hopefully HFT really now includes real Dana 44 adapters as they claim to but it sure seems the BJ kit I bought from HFT said the same thing and it didn't work for the TJ's front axle as it came.
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