DeeJeep

Ha! Yeah, if there's rubber involved...it is 23 yo now lol. I love this Jeep- it doesn't seem that old! Would you think it wise to just replace them now, since I can't do the work myself, and I suppose? the tie rods come apart to get to the ball joints anyway? Or is it likely I'd get another 2-3 years out of them if they seem okay now? I know some people say to hold onto the original parts as long as possible, but it has been 23, albeit easy, years.

DeeJeep

Okay, thank you so much!

PatHenry

If you want to spend a few hundred dollars you could replace all the tie-rod stuff.
You don't need the wheels disassembled for replacing tie-rods.

One thing you could do is crawl under the front of your Jeep with a good light and inspect all the tie-rod joints. Any with ripped boots or that can be moved by hand should be replaced.

I discovered the ripped boot when removing the tie-rod from the knuckle, the rip was not easy to see under the knuckle part but very obvious when it was disconnected.

PatHenry

Anytime. It's funny because I literally just did this on my 95 2 days ago.

PatHenry

BTW - My alignment went great.

I noticed on the highway (this is pre-alignment) that the "roughness" that I was experiencing when over 55mph was corrected with the new ball joints. I didn't think they were that bad, but I guess they were. It's funny because my Jeep passed MA state inspection (which is pretty strict) less than 2 months/>600 miles ago and ball joints is definitely something that needs to pass to get a sticker.

Waynerd

I did ball joints on my wife's 01 over the past summer. I used Napa parts. They actually weren't bad except one of the four was a little loose. Also did the hubs even though only one was slightly loose. Also I had warped rotors. The combo of all three gave a nasty shimmy so that's why I did it. It had just under 210k on it and the parts were all original.

I only had a hard time pressing one of the uppers in. The rest went smooth. Just use a lot of penetrating oil and maybe have a small torch handy. I also did not unbolt the steering from the knuckles. Just swung them away and propped them up so the weight wasn't on the steering. I also needed to borrow a torque wrench to torque the axle/hub nut. My wrench maxed at 180 foot pounds and the spec for the nut is higher. Also I purchased the 36mm socket for the nut.

Waynerd

Sorry but the torque spec for the axle nut is 180. My wrench only goes to 150. I had to correct that as it didn't sound right once I hit post.

investinwaffles

I did the ball joints, hubs, and axle u-joints on a Saturday. Everything else you can access without even taking the wheels off (other than brakes and springs)

robertj

Me every freakin' time I work on my XJ. I swear getting old sucks. I'm thankful I have a desk job, because I don't know how I could be wrenching for a living at this point. Kudos to guys that do it until they retire.

Tbone289

I always blame my desk job for the soreness... If I moved around a little more during the day every day, yanking on breaker bars on evenings/weekends wouldn't have such painful consequences.

PatHenry

Usually I'm fine, normally it's just a couple heavy pulls on a breaker in most stuff I've had to do, but man, the several heavy pulls to press out the old joints and the couple heavy pulls to seat the new joints all the way totally did me in.
When I did the ball joints a couple times on my previous Jeep I was never that sore - but that was years ago. The difference between doing that stuff in my late 20's, early 30's and the same stuff in my late 30's was huge.

Tbone289

....aaaand of course it only gets worse. Well, sorta. I started exercising again recently and it has definitely improved things. Usually I get busy early Spring and I pay for my sedentary Winter lifestyle.