ok, here for to long i will need to be switching out ball joints on the 97. Ive been thinking about buying a OTC ball joint tool. Looks like a beefed up c-clamp. does anybody have one or has used one and who could tell me if they are worth the money?. last ones i did i took to napa and used a big hyd. press to remove and install. i wont be able to have tha much down time for the truck so thats why i was sorta interested. when i bought the truck a almost a year ago, the ball joints were replaced probably about a year before that.. with MOOG ( sp?) balljoints. the bottom were greasable and the tops wern't . it was too late to add a greaserk they had a tid bit of slop in them. Well the last time i had the truck in the air i checked them out. there getting bad. so if anybody has some info on them and or experience with them could you let me know?
thanks,
kyle

 

I got the kit from harbor tool and freight. Dont know if you got one by you, you can order online. 70 bucks, does all kinds of sizes, and just cheap enough to loose and not feel bad. Great for U-Joints too.

 

Ill have to look into that too. thanks

 

We have been using the OTC kit for atleast 3 years at work. Hasn't failed yet. It gets used alot especially on the Dodges. 90% of our work is oilfield trucks BTW. I give props on the OTC kit!

 

otc is way good. we use tiger tools for our big trucks. but just be careful when you save a few bucks on tools kinda sucks when they break and hurt you.

 

yeah ive came accross plenty of them cheapos. After awhile you kinda start to see how fast you can break them .thanks for the imput

 

We use OTC and Snap On kits with Factory (OEM) adapters. I wouldnt recomend one of the cheap ones. You figure it a big clamp bust or splinters it could cause some serious injuries!

 

absolutly, that vould be very dangerous. i used one to take out the rollers on the brake spider on semi trailers. them things like to freeze up in the bushings all the time. The one i was using was an OTC and i tell you what, ihave a matco 1749 1/2 impact and was using it to push them out. That dang tool was bowing pretty bad. I stopped before i hurt myself. After that it became Torch Time

 

Well these ones are cheap ones, could never bring myself to buy one of them fancy matco or snap-on ones.