I am working on swapping out front-end components on a 4x4 1988 Mighty Max. For the lower ball-joint replacement, the Haynes manual just says to jack up lower control arm and separate the joint, unbolt balljoint assembly and replace. But it seems to me that the axle is in the way and I don't want to damage it by trying to push the old one into it - I've tried jacking at various places but nothing seems to increase that clearance. Am I missing something?
I was hoping to not have to remove axle, seems like a PITA but will get if I need to.
I had to undo the upper control arm and tie-rods from the knuckle, wiggle the knuckle/axle around to remove the bolts holding the lower ball joint on, and then slide the whole knuckle off (with the balljoint) off the axle to replace it. Had to remove the 4x4 hub and the gazillion shims to be able to slide knuckle off. Definitely not as easy as I would have hoped! (or the Haynes manual would lead you to believe.)
The Haynes manual is probably assuming it doesn't have a CV shaft and hub to deal with (an oversight, but misleading if you're going in deep and you're not prepared for it) There's a lot of finer details these types of manuals miss but can make a big difference. My personal favourite is not mentioning you should partially drain the cooling system before removing a carb. Everyone watches a cup of coolant rush straight into the intake ports on the manifold first time
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