What did you do TO your Gladiator today? [ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS, NO GUN TALK]

[WILDHOBO]

I thought I had a “good” one

Ball joints. What a pain when you buy a BJ Press from Amazon. Take my advice and buy a good one. 5 hours of my life I’ll never get ba

I thought I had a good one when I did mine. I turns out the project is only easy if your press costs about a thousand dollars. The joke is, I wish I had spent it now.

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[Stan H]

Ball joints. What a pain when you buy a BJ Press from Amazon. Take my advice and buy a good one. 5 hours of my life I’ll never get back

Was it absolutely % necessary to pull the axle shaft out ? This is a curiosity question

 

[Camaroboi13]

Was it absolutely % necessary to pull the axle shaft out ? This is a curiosity question

Yes it was. To get the lower out the ball joint press has to go through the hole where the upper was. I didn’t remove track bar or FAD like most videos talk about but everything else was spot on.

 

[Camaroboi13]

I thought I had a “good” one

All I know is the one I bought sucks. None of the adapters lined up at all. Either too small or too big, nothing in between. It was a 4x4 press, but maybe for some Pakistan built 4x4

 

[Stan H]

Yes it was. To get the lower out the ball joint press has to go through the hole where the upper was. I didn’t remove track bar or FAD like most videos talk about but everything else was spot on.

I am considering this job myself .. are the originals knarled? Would a small amount of heat with a low intensity butane torch help? Or penatrating oil.

 

[Camaroboi13]

I am considering this job myself .. are the originals knarled? Would a small amount of heat with a low intensity butane torch help? Or penatrating oil.

Honestly an impact with big torque numbers and the correct press works fine. The stock ones are non knurled. There was quite a bit of rust when the joints came out, so maybe some heat to break that up. I sanded down the rust and put some grease on before putting the new ones in and it seemed to help. Also left the new joints in the freezer overnight. Once I had the right tools it literally took less than 45 minutes to get all 4 out and all 4 new ones back in. I could see this project taking 3.5 hours if done right on the first try.

 

[Stan H]

Well as much as I hate pulling axle shafts. I suppose it may be unavoidable. Last question. Axle shaft seals .. Did you reuse or install new ones.

 

[GlennBeck]

I need to do this.... Sometimes my Jeep sits for several days out of the week. On my 3rd set of Mopar batteries in less than 3 years.

I'm deployed, so my wife drives it once a week. Would be nice if she drove it more but I can't motivate her to do it. I've had a solar battery tender on my Tacoma and I ran a higher output battery, so I never had an issue, but with all the problems seen with the main/aux battery in the Jeep I'm thinking the solar charging may be required.

 

[GlennBeck]

Are ypu just changing the look ? Or is there a benefit performance..ie cooling etc..?

Easily 5HP+

 

[van_tri]

I'm deployed, so my wife drives it once a week. Would be nice if she drove it more but I can't motivate her to do it. I've had a solar battery tender on my Tacoma and I ran a higher output battery, so I never had an issue, but with all the problems seen with the main/aux battery in the Jeep I'm thinking the solar charging may be required.

Thank you for your service!
Our son-in-law is also deployed and our daughter is back at home.
His Tacoma is a manual and I've been teaching her to drive it but it only gets driven once per week and I expect the battery will be a goner before he gets home ... will look into the solar tender. Be safe!

 

[WILDHOBO]

Was it absolutely % necessary to pull the axle shaft out ? This is a curiosity question

It is.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Well as much as I hate pulling axle shafts. I suppose it may be unavoidable. Last question. Axle shaft seals .. Did you reuse or install new ones.

Just support the weight well and remove the shafts carefully so you’re not dragging them across the seals. Mine are fine with no leaks.

 

[irish_love]

Looks like they’ll work well. Do they come off easily?

I have these as well. You don't need tools to take them off, but sometimes it does feel like I'm going to break something taking them off. They for sure aren't falling off while you are driving. The mirror itself is pretty tight and doesn't shake or move out of position. Over all really good product and I'm glad I bought them over some of the other options out there.

 

[Labswine]

Cleaned and recharged my K&N air filter. Kind of amazing after 20K miles how much dirt and crapola came out after hitting it with the cleaning spray and hot water. After it dried in the sun for a couple of hours, sprayed a very light coating of new oil, used a paper towel to sop up any excess, then put back in.

 

[bill61]

I’m kinda paranoid with air filters. I change mine at 10K. I had one mess up a carburetor years ago around 12K.

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