I have access to the tools, but on a scale from 1 to 10,how difficult are they to replace? Are any special tools needed? Anything tricky to watch for?

 

Upper or lower ball joints? There are two sticky points that should be mentioned. One is that it can be difficult to separate the ball joint bolt from the knuckle. The other - and more important point - is safety when working with a compressed spring. If you don't do the job properly, the suspension can come apart forcefully resulting in serious bodily damage.

 

That makes it a 10 for me. Thanks for the info.

 

Is it 2wd or a 4x4? If it's a 4x4, there is no spring that will fly out at you. Either way, it is a fairly easy job if you have the tools.

 

It is both the upper and lower on a 4X4. I would guess that after this an alignment would be needed.

 

Yup, would need an alignment. While you are at it, you might as well check the idler and pitman arms also for wear/looseness. That would be the ideal time to replace those if needed. If you do these ball joints yourself, make sure you unbolt the wheel speed sensor harnesses from the upper control arms, or from the hub itself. I've seen a few guys in the shop stretch them out to the point where they needed to be replaced. If you are doing this in your driveway, it may be easier to just remove the steering knuckles to get them out of your way. You will need an impact gun, air chisel with a flat bit (or a set of torches if you plan on cutting the joints out) and a jack stand to aid in reassembly. It's simple. Any questions just ask, we do a ton of these on a weekly basis.

 

Right thread at the right time, I have a co-worker with a 99 4x4 Blazer that also needs ball joint replacment. As stated it's the torsion bar set-up. I've taken coil springs with upper and lower control arms but have never mess with a torsion bar set-up. Do you treat a torsion bar the same way you'll treat a coil spring, support the weight of the truck on the lower control arm.
He has lower ball joint problem on the right side but he might do all the ball joints while he's in there.

How about the steering gear box, surprisingly the pitman arm on the steering box has worn. I've never seen a pitman arm that could wear. Anyhting out the oridinary on pulling a steering box. I recently did a steering box on a 2-wheel drive 93 S10/Blazer and it was a straight forward job.

 

Gear box is simple. I always leave the gear box alone, and just use a pitman arm puller to pull the arm off.

As far as the torsion bars, the only time you need to support the weight of the vehicle, is upon instalation of the upper ball stud into the knuckle.

 

Have you seen a Blazer 4x4 steering box? You are correct, in a normal situation you can leave the box alone and pull the pitman arm right off the box, but in the Blazer 4x4 application there's a structual chassis piece that runs right under the steering box, within inches of the pitman arm nut. No way you can put a puller on the pitman arm without taking the box off.

Thanks for the torsion bar info