Mopar Upper Ball Joint Removal Socket
The easiest way to remove your upper ball joints is with a special socket (see picture below). There are three different sizes, for A, B and C-bodies.- A-body - 1.809"
- 1960-72 A bodies
- B-body - 1 7/8"
- Strangly enough there are also 1 59/64" sockets, which should fit the same ball joint?! My ball joint is a Moog K772 and the 1 7/8" fits like a glove...
- 73 and up A-body
- 63-78 B-body
- 70-74 E-body
- C-body - 2 1/8"
- Strangly enough there are also 2 9/64" sockets, which should fit the same ball joint?!
Mopar used three different upper ball joints on their RWD Torsion bar equipped cars from 1957-89.
1960-72 A bodies only used the small ball joint
1957-75 Imperials and 1974-78 big cars used the biggest joint (MOOG K778) It was also on light duty Dodge vans from 1971-03, 1972-93 2WD pickups as well as 1987-96 2WD Dakotas and most Vipers.
Everybody else used the middle size (MOOG K772) i.e. 1973+ Darts/Valiants, F-M-J bodies, most C bodies till 1973 and all B-R bodies
Some sites where you can buy these sockets: All balljooint sockets i've seen are impact sockets. And that's what you want. The easiest way to use these sockets is with an impact gun (electric or air).You really want to do this with an impact gun. Because those upper balljoints are incredible hard to remove by hand, i.e. a socket attachted to a breaker bar is a guarantee to injury!
If you don't want to buy one, 'cause you know this is the only time you need one, maybe you can borrow one. I belief you can rent these sockets in the United States. Food for thought, I think...
My sockets are from SK Hand tools. Just type SK and the serialnumber in a search engine and the stores who sell them pop up.
- 1 7/8" - s/n 84688
- 2 1/8" - s/n 84689
A PST socket (Performance Suspension Technology), This one is with a 1/2" drive.