How To : Flip Ball Joints

thanks for the how to, i love this site!!!

I would like to add something to your write up. When trying to break the ball joint from the spindle you don't want to take the castle nuts all the way off. If you take the castle nuts off then when the ball joint breaks loose it will fall and possibly land on your toe causing you to scream like a little girl but cuss like a dirty old man! haha But yea leave the castle nuts on buy a few threads to catch the spindle when it falls.

wow, that would hurt alot, huh? haha

awesome advice, lol

after reading this thread i thought i would go check out my lower control arms....i got djm lowering control arms and i never really thought about where the lower ball joint bolted. I looked at them and mine where bolted on the bottom of the control arm! In 20 mins i unbolted them and moved them on top and now my truck sit a little over a 1/2" lower. I was so excited i rolled it out the garage cause it was on the side of my garage with the lift and wouldn't lay frame when layed out. When i aired it out the front crossmember for my 4.3 swap drug the ground! I then went to air it back up and the air hose wouldn't reach front so me and my friend atempted to push the truck back a little and drug the crossmemeber in my driveway. That was the first time i drug the truck in over a YEAR!!!!

I might add that you really dont have to seperate the ball joint to do this. I just used a strap and pulled the whole upper control/spindle up and attached the strap over the hood. Makes it a LOT easier and FASTER. I flipped mine in about 15 minutes per side.

yea i didn't have to separate my lower ball joint either cause i have the djm lower control arms. There is no lobe to cut so i just unbolted the lower ball joint, lifted it up and bolted it on the top of the lower control arm. Really only took me like 20 mins cause i have a lift and the truck was already in the air.

I read this on SSM, thought it was pretty funny.

"how art thou balljoints flipped for dropping?
how art the masses disagreed?
While "flipping" is said, it isn't proper
relocating is the word you need
but in our nation of thine mini trucks
thy terminology is incorrect
This has been the case for years and months
as verbal fallacies are said
flipping balljoints refers not to upside-down
but merely relation to thine control arm
my first time flipping to bring my ride down
i trieth to push it so hard
until i noticed a deviation, a curse by thine mazda corp
a taper that made my actions impossible
so i opted to light thy holy torch
thy torch removeth many of thine obstacles
lord grinder doeth deeds as well
so i notched thine arm and kept dropping it
and dragging it all to hell"

^^ thats some shakespear for your minitruck ass!

So I have a question I have heard of flipping ball joints before, but I thought it was done to reduce bind when layed out. Or is it done just primarily to get ever so much closer to the asphalt.