Last year at this time I put new upper and lower ball joints in my 97 Chevy 4x4 ( also did new half shafts, new wheel bearings, rotors, calipers and pads, and tie rods and sway bar bushings too) complete rebuild of that front end. I gotta warn you ahead of time, that particular model can be a VERY big job: all depends on what you are trying to do and how rusty everything is. You are going to need quite a large torque wrench and a 36 mm axle nut socket to tighten your axle nut to 165 lb ft, but that is for when you are all done with the job. I do not know why you would want to replace the upper ball joints alone, because they are not carrying the vehicle load and usually do not wear out. The bottom ones carry the load and fail much quicker. To do that job, you had better eat your Wheatley’s, because it is a WHOPPER. Yes, you have to remove the half shafts, and that is a cake walk. It begins to get difficult when you attempt to remove the rotor: the design of those model years up unti 2001 or 03 is pretty bad; lots of rust under there. There are four 15 mm bolts that hold the hub bearing to the spindle; if you can remove those then you are in good shape. If not, don’t strip them, but you will have to literally pry the rotor off of the vehicle using two pry bars, many hours of labor and pretty dangerous to both you and the fenders. You will have to pry so long and hard that you separate the sealed hub bearing assembly pulling it in half to get the rotor off. Then you will have access to the bearing assembly so that you can use an oxy acetylene torch to heat the bearing around the bolts so you can remove them. Then you have to get the bearing assembly out of the spindle, it will be rusted in and you will have to use a hammer and chisel, but be careful not to damage spindle. Then unbolt ball joints upper and lower and use ball joint separator picks fork and big hammer to separate upper ball then repeat for lower ball and spindle will drop out of vehicle. Then and only then can you begin to replace those ball joints. And you have to remove the upper ball joints or the entire control arm just so that you have room for your ball joint press to work on the lower ball joints. When you are done pressing in new lower ball joints then you can BOLT in your new upper joints and slap everything back together. It will go back together like gravy. Oh, removing the upper ball joints requires chiseling off the rivet heads and air chiseling for countless hours to get that ball joint assembly out of that upper control arm. I mean when you get done, your wrists are going to be numb and you are going to need a very powerful air chisel, like an ingersoll rand maximum power model ( that is what I used) . If I had to do it again, I would probably purchase new complete upper control arms with all joints already installed. Pricier, but money well spent, I would think. Time has blurred my memory, but I still have those old uppers in the garage, just so that I can look at them and remember thatstruggle. Oh, there are many internet articles on various attempts at removal, an, no, you absolutely cannot drive those rivers out with an air chisel; you have to chisel the rivet plate assembly up and out of the control arm. I used to do just this type of work every day in an auto shop when I was younger, so I can say with a good background of both work experience and knowledge that those models of Chevy 4x4 trucks are a job for the pros. Start out with something easy, like anything with a regular bearing set and more normal ball joint assembly. If you take it on yourself, you are probably going to have to pay to have it towed, embarrassingly, to a shop, with the rotors half pulled off, and they are going to eat you alive on the price to service those parts. I have nearly every tool on earth to service such vehicles and it took me forever and nearly brought me to tears on SEVERAL occasions. But I have come to enjoy doing such miserable projects. Still it was in my garage for over a week to get it done. On the internet, it is described readily as wheel bearing hub assembly removal from hell. I would add to that, upper ball joint assembly removal from hell. So, unless you are heck bent and determined like me, I would recommend selling that vehicle and getting one that is economical to service. Yes, REALLY. I think I spent $1700.00 on parts doing it myself. Shops routinely charge $1500.00 per side just to replace a wheel bearing assembly. I have no idea how much the whole job that I did would have cost if I had a shop do it. Don’t want to go go there, ever.
