t_j
FRF Addict
Background:
After I got back from the MDM Spring run, the liners in my front LCA and UCA uniballs were all shot, so it was time to order up some new ones. Last year I did this the old fashion way, taking everything off the truck and using a sledge to drive the uniball out and then to put the new one back in. With the help of @Big Blue we managed to complete this project in 2 days (full days) with most of the time spent whanging on uniballs. Then having to get an alignment done etc all in all it was a complete pain in the ass.
This time around I decided I would pick up the Uniball tool from AGM Motorsports that @RDFTS mentioned a while a back and @treypal gave a decent recommendation to. I picked up just the 1.5" tool (not the kit) after a quick phone call to AGM to check whether it will would work. (Great customer service on the phone.)
https://www.allgermanmotorsports.com/product/uni-ball-tool
The tool arrived and its very stout, 2 immaculately machined cups and an ACME threaded nut and bolt. A quick glance over the instructions (liberal application of heavy grease before each use) and I was ready to the project started.
The uniballs being replaced were done last august (they should have been done way sooner last year but thats another story) and have done one trip to silver lake, MDM trip to WI in the fall, Snoball and the MDM Spring WI trip and seen a full Chicago winter (its the freezing water that kills them).
With this tool the suspension components do not have to be removed from the truck so no need for an alignment afterwards, or having fighting with removing the bypass shocks to get to the UCA bolts (this was a significant time consumption issue last go around) and no need to replace the misalignment spacers in the shock mounts.
Unfortunately this tool does not solve the difficulty of removing the retaining clips for the uniballs, but after the 3rd clip I had a decent process down and was having decent success removing them quickly. Using this tool probably saved 7+ hours of labour and some very sore limbs.
The time to replace a ball (after disassembly and removing the retaining clip) is around 7 minutes.
Here is a video of the tool in action:
After use and clean up the was very little wear on the tool from use, the coating had rubbed off on the small cup from the rotation of the nut against it but other than that looks practically new.
I would highly recommend this tool to anyone that is going to replace uniballs in their suspension components themselves.
Side note, Race Ready Products was the cheapest place I could find to source the FK uniballs.
After I got back from the MDM Spring run, the liners in my front LCA and UCA uniballs were all shot, so it was time to order up some new ones. Last year I did this the old fashion way, taking everything off the truck and using a sledge to drive the uniball out and then to put the new one back in. With the help of @Big Blue we managed to complete this project in 2 days (full days) with most of the time spent whanging on uniballs. Then having to get an alignment done etc all in all it was a complete pain in the ass.
This time around I decided I would pick up the Uniball tool from AGM Motorsports that @RDFTS mentioned a while a back and @treypal gave a decent recommendation to. I picked up just the 1.5" tool (not the kit) after a quick phone call to AGM to check whether it will would work. (Great customer service on the phone.)
https://www.allgermanmotorsports.com/product/uni-ball-tool
The tool arrived and its very stout, 2 immaculately machined cups and an ACME threaded nut and bolt. A quick glance over the instructions (liberal application of heavy grease before each use) and I was ready to the project started.
The uniballs being replaced were done last august (they should have been done way sooner last year but thats another story) and have done one trip to silver lake, MDM trip to WI in the fall, Snoball and the MDM Spring WI trip and seen a full Chicago winter (its the freezing water that kills them).
With this tool the suspension components do not have to be removed from the truck so no need for an alignment afterwards, or having fighting with removing the bypass shocks to get to the UCA bolts (this was a significant time consumption issue last go around) and no need to replace the misalignment spacers in the shock mounts.
Unfortunately this tool does not solve the difficulty of removing the retaining clips for the uniballs, but after the 3rd clip I had a decent process down and was having decent success removing them quickly. Using this tool probably saved 7+ hours of labour and some very sore limbs.
The time to replace a ball (after disassembly and removing the retaining clip) is around 7 minutes.
Here is a video of the tool in action:
After use and clean up the was very little wear on the tool from use, the coating had rubbed off on the small cup from the rotation of the nut against it but other than that looks practically new.
I would highly recommend this tool to anyone that is going to replace uniballs in their suspension components themselves.
Side note, Race Ready Products was the cheapest place I could find to source the FK uniballs.
