Replacing LBJ Boot

[Ahwahnee]

This has bugged for a while, maybe others are in the same situation...

My lower ball joints are really solid, no question in my mind that they are good - but the boots were torn. Well at least those cracks made it easy to pack grease in there but not a condition I was happy with.

Last week I took things apart and was able to sneak in there with replacement boots.

These are the ones I used:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CN5F14/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I cleaned up all the old grease and packed both the top of the joint and the inside of the boots with new grease. After a few days of driving things still look fine:

Of course I had to pop both the lower and upper BJs as well as the tie-rod end to get to where I could fit the new boot - but a solution for under 4 bucks is worth a bit of effort.

[Mac_Daddy_Westy]

Ahwahnee,

I think I have to do the same, have some questions;

1- was this difficult? how long did it take? what special tools needed?
2- what kind of grease did you use to repack the LBJ with?
3- did you have to take off wheel, brake calipers & brake lines? jack stand the vanagon?
4- did you have to get an alignment afterwards?

I'm nervous about this job, just don't want to mess things up. please advise or better, if not too much trouble, can you provide step-by-step instructions?

Boxer

[Ahwahnee]

Not especially difficult but if you have never separated a ball joint before that will be a new experience along with some other techniques you may not have employed in the past.

The special tool was a ball joint separator - the one I used came from Harbor Freight:

https://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-quarter-inch-forged-ball-joint-separator-99849.html

Your FLAPS will have one in their loaner tools but I found I had to modify the tool slightly to fit the Vanagon BJ - I widened the opening in the jaw just a bit and also relieved the rear edge of the side w/o the screw to allow the tool to open farther. I suspect that AutoZone doesn't want you taking a grinder to their loaner tool.

The front of the van was on jack stands -- I removed the road wheels but did not undo the calipers or the brake lines.

The nuts on the tie-rods were removed and the joints popped loose (same tool as ball joints but easier to do). You do not need to undo the tie rod ends unless you have to also replace one or both steering rack boots (I had to). If you do not undo the ends then you will not lose your alignment. If you do have to remove the ends you can use paint, measured marks and digital photos to get everything back exactly as it was before and again, no alignment needed.

I did not undo the speedo cable though I was very careful as I worked around it.

Once the tie rod is free you loosen the nuts on the upper and lower ball joints and undo them until they are at the end of the threaded stud. To do this I had to buy a 27mm combination wrench for the lower nut. A 1 1/16" wrench is almost right but I only had it in a box wrench, the combo was quicker to work with once the nut was loose.

The ball joints now get separated using the tool. The tool is nice in that it does not damage a good boot (e.g. my uppers were new last year). If you have not used this tool it would be helpful if someone could show you the set-up (there are probably YouTube videos). I used an impact wrench to work the tool - probably not necessary but much easier.

The surprise the first time you separate a joint is the noise it makes when it lets go. Okay, still surprising the 2nd or 3rd time you do it. More like a handgun than a shotgun but some drama nonetheless.

I used a rope from one of the wheel studs up to and around the top shock stud to keep the caliper and disc from dropping as I undid the nuts the rest of the way.

I used a large pry bar in there somewhere to get something clear & loose (possibly the upper BJ).

For reassembly I used a pair of plain nuts to tighten the joints until the taper caught, then removed them and installed the correct stop-nuts (aka Nylocs). If you try to do the Nylocs from the get-go the taper may just spin due to the resistance of the nut.

The grease I used was just ordinary wheel grease (moly...).

Whether you should try this yourself is something I cannot say. Really depends on your overall experience dealing with tight fasteners, heavy parts and the possibility of a surprise or two along the way.

There is a safety concern too as you are working with jack stands and tools that will require some force to get results (e.g. hammering on the wrench to initially loosening the nuts).

I'm in my 70s and can't remember how many years ago I did this the first time but there was a first time and I am very sure there was no one there to tell me what to do (pre-internet too) so much depends on your comfort level with just diving in.

[Mac_Daddy_Westy]

Ahwahnee,

awesome advice and guidance, thank you. will mirror your path and provide follow up, thank you.

boxer

[Mac_Daddy_Westy]

Ahwahnee,

crawled under van today, took a look at my LBJ, looks a bit different from your's. I guess 1984 and 1987 are a bit different. but the technique you describe of removing the LBJ boot should be the same...right?

Just curious, how come you did not do Zerks fittings?

to make regreasing easier?

Boxer

[Ahwahnee]

I think it would be very difficult to add a Zerk to an ball joint - not impossible I suppose but quite a job and would certainly require removal of the joint.

Typical BJ with a Zerk (from my Van's stable-mate):

But the joint can still be greased by either penetrating the rubber with a needle grease gun tip or sneaking under the bottom edge of the replacement boot (though not all agree these methods are a good idea).

Yes, I recall that later vans differed in this area - but have never looking into those differences.

[vanis13]