Doing some work on my truck and need to change the ball joints and have decided to change out the axel u joints and bearings. Are there any other parts recommended changing out while doing this work? I'm not a mechanic by trade but feel confident I can tackle the things listed. 2006 Dodge 2500 4WD is my ride.

maybe some bushings and tie rods, shocks and throw new brake pads on while everything is apart

Check your sway bar links and bushings too.

I wouldn't do any work if it wasn't worn out personally.

Check your control arm bushings if your ball joints are shot.

Wheel bearings, tie rod ends, idle/pitman arm

Just my personal opinion, but unless you need to replace all of those parts, or have reason to believe they are wearing out or near the end of their service life, I wouldnt replace them.

I understand preventative maintenance and all that, but I would take it apart and do a check on everything before deciding you're just going to replace it.

Yup. Otherwise you might as well just buy a new truck while you're at it. I mean, it is 9 years old, who knows when the engine and transmission will crap out, or the floor will rust through. Better to just buy a new one

WTF did I get onto? The bearing is stuck like a summbitch. I've been beating on that thing for 2 days. Suffered a cut to my head where my kid had to run and get a trauma napkin to staunch the flow of blood. Then smashed my pinky finger where my kid then runs into the house screaming daddy smashed his finger! She promptly returned with a bag of ice and rendered first aid. Got back to work again then smashed my booger picker. Hot damn that hurt I cussed words I hadn't said since high school. Kid runs back into the house screaming daddy smashed his finger again! Another bag of ice to the rescue.

Anybody got any ideas how the hell to remove the hub from the knuckle short of explosives? I used dang near 2 cans of PB Blaster, 3 prong puller, air hammer searched the internet and tried the steering wheel press and and have broken numerous tools.

Stuck in the knuckle?

Only advice I can think of is to scrape off all the corrosion you can, hit it with penetrant and keep whacking it on opposite sides until it goes.  I just did mine and it was a bit of a b*tch to get out.  Is the whole front end off the ground?  Is the knuckle turning side to side when you beat on it?

I handle customer support sometimes, so I have to ask... You do have all the hub-to-knuckle bolts and axle nut off, right?  (The old "is it plugged in" problem).

Have you tried a torch?

Whoa, whoa, whoa... The last thing we need is for OP to add a burn to the injury list!

The front is up in the air. I'll lower it and beat on it.

Fire. Had to use propane to get the spindle nut off. Don't think propane will get the knuckle hot enough.  Will map gas work?

Yep all the bolts are off.

Kind of leary without my kid to render first aid since she's in school. Murphy is kicking my ass.

Mapp gas will get hotter than propane, but not as hot as oxy-acetylene.

Please don't send you car, or yourself, up in flames though.

Are you still alive, OP?

Any luck?

Easy way to get the hub off is to thread the bolts in 5-6 turns,put a socket and short extension on the head of the bolt and then start the engine. Turn the steering wheel back and forth so the extension is impacting the axle housing,the force of power steering will walk the hub right out.
If that doesn't work you can put the wheel back on leaving the bolts out and the brakes off,set the truck down and steer back and forth,that usually breaks the really stubborn ones loose

Good luck!

Listen to this man! This is the easiest way to do it.

This is where I broke a socket, extension and adapter.

Been a hell of a week but I finally got the damn hub off. I bought this special tool and ended up using a Mapp Gas torch to heat up the hub and bearing along with some sledge hammer finesse. Unfortunately there was some collateral damage. I think the fumes from the heated knuckle and hub took some time off my life. It sure as shit made me dizzy swinging a sledge and I caught the edge of my quarter panel. Damn this is why I can't have nice things. But with my Amazon purchase and muscle I was able to get it off. Had a small wedge that eventually got bigger.





I was able to get one ball joint off but the kit I'm using is a free rental POS. I don't think it big enough and doesn't have the right combo of spacers. I had to literally jury rig it. Many of you will recognize my fancy modification. The upper ball joint is out but the lower is being stubborn. Hopefully I can take care of it with fire. Speaking of which when hot grease splatters and gets inside your gloves you'll scream like a girl. It only took 3 seconds for me to scream like my hair was stuck in an escalator and scramble to remove my glove. My trusty medical sidekick was off duty at school.

Just need to get the lower ball joint out and clean the rust off, replace everything. Then I can tackle the other side hopefully injury free.

Prophetic.

you might as well buy new wheel bearing assemblies, i helped my father in law do front axle u joints on his 05 3500, and i beat and pried and finally the socket with extension worked, but about 2 months after both wheel bearings became noisy and i had to replace them, they only had about 80k on them, but the beating must have banged up the races

Bearings don't like to be taken outside of their design envelope.  We had premature bearing failures in 150 HP submersible pumps because they were shipped laying down after the rebuild.  Shipped them standing up and the problem went away.

 

OP I like to use a cylinder hone to clean up the seats for the bearings and the ball joints.  Don't take too much material though.

anti seize is a must.
 
OTC makes a specific ball joint kit for the chy/dodge/jeeps that works great and has all the right spacers.  

I had a hub that didnt come loose once either and beat the everlasting shit out of it for 4 hours before I learned the socket trick.

D