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Ever have a vehicle just whoop your a$$?

TheBeast_88K5

TheBeast_88K5

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I did... Today.... It was a simple balljoint replacement... On a Cherokee. :doah:

It seriously took me the better part of 4 hours to do ONE SIDE.
(Almost) EVERYTHING WENT WRONG!

Jacked it up
pulled the tire
removed the caliper, zip-tied it up.
Pulled the rotor...this is where the ease CEASED. :popcorn:

Removed the 3 bolts, that hold the hub to the the knuckle.
The Hub flange-thingy WOULD NOT BUDGE.
I convinced the sh*t out of it with a hammer and screwdriver.
Then just a BFH, after about 20 minutes, it just let go. :dunno:

Then the knuckle took 20 minutes of convincing.
Then each gawdamn balljoint was practically WELDED to its bore.

Then the upper replacement joint had a minute manufacture defect.... :whistle:
It cascaded outward in thickness, like a cone.
Not noticable to the naked eye, but just f*cked up enough to get half way in and STOP.

The second upper balljoint went in NO TROUBLE AT ALL.
Just like it should. :thumb:

I should also mention that the tolerances were so tight,
That my impact wouldn't work, for the press, so I was doing the installing by hand.
2' breaker bar, and 2' cheater-pipe, on occasion.

The lower replacement was another gawdamn story.

It went 3/4 of the way in, then stopped.
Of course the knuckle was too small to get the bj press in there correctly.:rolleyes:
Had to jimmy-rig my own adapter for it... Bastard HEEP.

Once it was all the way in, I noticed the threads, near the base, were shrugged.
Prolly out of the box, I never checked, but didn't do anything that would have caused it.

So, I had to do some slick, impact usage, type stuff.
Basically chased the threads, trail style.

Fast forward to everything back on,
I'm tightening the caliper bolt.... Then, SNAP!

First bolt I ever broke in my life.
Seriously... With 35 ft lbs of force...wtf?

Had to wait 20 more minutes for the guy to get the new bolts.
Which went in like a charm.

Took me 3 1/2 hours to replace 2 freaking balljoints.
I'm freaking BEAT, I have a smashed knuckle, and a b*tchen headache.

Gawdamm jeeps.
Never again.

Edit: spec is 30ft lbs... NOT 77ft lbs., edited for correction.
 
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Been there, done that.

To get all that done in 3-4 hrs seems pretty decent, given all your troubles.

You aren't allowed to bitch about a project gone wrong until the 8 hr day mark...:haha:
 
dhcomp said:
Been there, done that.

To get all that done in 3-4 hrs seems pretty decent, given all your troubles.

You aren't allowed to bitch about a project gone wrong until the 8 hr day mark...:haha:
Click to expand...

:haha:

In my honest opinion, it SHOULD have taken 2 hours.
But, as the sun starts to set, and you realize "I've been here since 3pm..."
It gets a bit old.

Oh, mind you....
I was doing this in a business parking lot, with only my trail tools.
And, almost everything went wrong. :haha:

It makes you feel good, after accomplishing the task.
Or, maybe I'm just happy it's over. :pimp:
 
Those are not 77 ft/lb for the caliper bolts. You are lucky. They normally strip the threads out of the knuckle long before they break off.
 
Oh, it's actually 30... :doah:

I read the caliper mount-to-steering knuckle torque spec.
My bad...

But, that's what I get for torquing a damn caliper bolt, instead of PFT'ing it! :haha:

Never again!
 
Just about EVERY time I attempt a repair on anything I own,what should be a simple job that should take maybe an hour,turns into a day long beating,if not longer...mostly due to rust,bolts that look like rivets,snap off,parts that crumble into iron ore when you touch them,etc...I'm not as limber and flexible as I used to be either--5 minutes bending over the fenders looking under the hood will make my back feel broken,and my ribs feel like they are busted................................................................................................After watching my friend work at his shop a whole day working on vehicles that put him thru the mill much like the poster here,I ask him how the hell he can take it day after day,doing 4-5 cars or trucks,sometimes having all of them apart and having to go from one to another,as the parts often have to be delivered or picked up...I'd be dead in 3 days if I had to do half what he does on a daily basis....I dont reccomend auto repair as a way to make a good living,it sucks to fix anything made after the 1970's...even then it was bad enough,now you must not only be a gorilla,but a magician and wizard too....
 
That happens to me most of the time as well. Two hour job takes all day. Mostly rust issues and the bond it makes between pieces of metal. Rust belt living you get used to this happening.
 
The older you get, the more of these you will have. Most of them teach an important lesson so it never happens again.

But if you work on a wide variety of trucks like I do, it seems the lessons needing learned are endless.

2 worst I have ever had was getting a steering arm off a Dana 44 on a Dodge, same as a Chevy, had to cut it apart into little bits.

Next was a ball joint on a one ton Dodge.

Hmmmmmm maybe there is a pattern here
 
it's the purpose in buying endless tools and shop upgrades, to kick that sh*t's arse... :haha:

I remember in my early 20's having nothing but a cantalever box with basic handtools and an electric drill... :doah: that was it to take on projects.. :pimp:

now, I'm pushing 50, have 50 g's of stuff, and still don't have nearly the implements of destruction I would like in my shop...
 
ryoken said:
it's the purpose in buying endless tools and shop upgrades, to kick that sh*t's arse... :haha:

I remember in my early 20's having nothing but a cantalever box with basic handtools and an electric drill... :doah: that was it to take on projects.. :pimp:

now, I'm pushing 50, have 50 g's of stuff, and still don't have nearly the implements of destruction I would like in my shop...
Click to expand...

A truer statement was never said!

I built my first truck with a corded drill and grinder a borrowed welder and a small craftsman tool set

The more you work on stuff the more you need quality stuff
 
chulisohombre said:
That happens to me most of the time as well. Two hour job takes all day. Mostly rust issues and the bond it makes between pieces of metal. Rust belt living you get used to this happening.
Click to expand...

Aero-kroil. A rust belt gear heads best friend. Yes its $20 a bottle but i have yet to see a bolt it didnt break free. And the stuff smells awesome lol. Pb blaster is junk compared to the stuff imo.
 
This reminds me of an incident from years ago...

I'd had new tires installed by some hack mechanic at a tire shop. He'd left my right rear lug nuts loose. Long story short, I realized it pretty quickly, called the shop (quite pissed, too) and they sent the idiot out to rectify it. He just threw a jack under the truck and cranked them down, further ruining them. Next day I dropped the truck off demand new wheel studs and lug nuts, as well as a partial refund for the new tires. I got it.

Fast-forward several months. I was at a friend's house and we were about to tackle the K5's rear brakes. Could get the driver's side rear tire off. It appears that in their panic, the dumbasses at the shop decided that the back wheels weren't coming back off without some serious persuasion. They'd torqued the sh!t out of the lug nuts.

It took HOURS to get that wheel off. :eek1: :rolleyes:

It involved drilling into the wheel studs, breaking bits, leaving, getting more bits, breaking those... rinse repeat. Finally got those wheel studs hollowed out, which make them weak enough to snap off with a BFH and a large punch. :doah:

And after all that, THEN we had to install new ones. Only after that was fixed did we get around to working on the brakes. :rolleyes:

It took hours and hours... :mad:

To this day, I refuse to use an impact on my lug nuts, and I always use anti-seize compound on the threads. I prefer to use an actual torque wrench if possible, but if that's not available, I'm still using the anti-seize. I'm NEVER going through that sh!t again.

:angry1:
 
chulisohombre said:
That happens to me most of the time as well. Two hour job takes all day. Mostly rust issues and the bond it makes between pieces of metal. Rust belt living you get used to this happening.
Click to expand...

The key factor, in my case, was Rust.
I'm SURE this was a Lake Tahoe truck, or somewhere with snow.
The guy said he looooves snow wheeling.

It showed.
That was one rusty sumbeach. :doah:
 
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Balljoints!

Ball joints on my 10 bolt front knuckles. Damm Universal joints would not turn with the new ones installed. I got so pissed when I tried to swap them I gave up and finished my dana 60 front!
 
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