Upper BJ Snap Ring Not Seating

MunkeyTX

Observer
I'm soooo close to finishing up the front end refresh on my '98 4Runner, but the upper ball joints have been the bane of my existence!!

I'm pressing the new upper BJ's in via CajunTaco's method of using a modified pitman arm puller, as a pusher.

The BJ looks to be fully seated into the spindle, and the pitman arm puller is actually beginning to bend the 'ears' of the spindle adjacent to the UBJ hole. The snap ring will seat into half of the circumference of the UBJ groove, but the other sides next to the ears will not.

I cannot apply any more force to the puller, as the tip is eating into my 'pushing pad' and bending the metal.

I'm tempted to just leave it as is, tighten the castle nut to spec, and forget about it.

What would y'all do??
 

Caoboy

Adventurer
I'd spend 20 bucks and get them pressed in if you can't do it yourself. Leaving it half assed like that is like only putting in half your oil. You wouldn't put in half your oil, cap it off, and call it a day, would you?
 

Hill Bill E.

Oath Keeper
Did the ball joints you remove have snap rings?

Many ball joints fit different applications, and some use the snap rings, some don't, but the ball joint comes with the snap ring.

ie: The Jeep CJ Dana 30 axle, it does not use a snap ring on any of the ball joints, but 2 of the ball joints come with snap rings.
 

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