D44 Ball joints

[pitviper]

Alright I'm tinkering with my truck and I come to find that I have grenaded my pass. side axle shaft and u-joint. No biggy, I can fix that what I need to know is, is the lower ball joint supposed to be positioned with the nut and stud facing up or down. I hope someone knows what I'm talking about beause it looks like that is what ate the u-joint and shaft.

 

[mr_clean]

Both studs should be pointing up.

 

[fordslayer383]

keep your nuts up!

why dont you just look at the otherside

 

[divorced]

Yep, nuts up! It is possible that if your u-joint was worn that it was the cause of the failure. Worn parts and abuse cause most failures that I have experienced. I run a D44 and 38's with no problems.

 

[pitviper]

ok, yeah I guess I could have looked at the other side I never thought about it though. Now my problem is getting the steering knuckle off, what do I need to get those ball joints out of there so I can get my shaft, well shafts now, out of there.

 

[mr_clean]

I could be wrong, but I don't think you need to remove the knuckles to get the axles out. I just re-did my D44 last year and I don't think the knuckles had to be removed. Matter of fact I think you need the axles out to torque the lower ball joint nut...

As for removing the knuckle, I used a pickle fork. It destroyed my old ball joints, but I was replacing them anyway.

Scott

 

[spearchucker]

This should help you out.