4g61t.org

shit im going to get those OEM ball joints out of there,


Nothing a Drill and oxy/acetalyne torch cant work out.

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-1989 Colt GT (stock for now)
-1993 Dodge colt 4g63 swap
-1992 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo GSR (genuine)
-1992 Eagle Summit AWD 4g63t swap (SOLD)

That's what I thought too, sir. You have nothing to lose really, if you aren't depending on this car as your daily driver.

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Good stuff - trucks bring it!

Actually in 3 days it WILL be my daily driver. I have to get a good set of ball joints under it before then.

Im trading in my Daily Driver 4th gen coupe for a project car. A Summit AWD Van 4g63t swap.

The Colt GT will have to fill in daily driver duties untill i can get the Summit Van working, or i put my evo back on the road, or my 93 4g63t colt on the road if i can ever get the new tranny in.

Gawd, sooo many mitsubishis

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-1989 Colt GT (stock for now)
-1993 Dodge colt 4g63 swap
-1992 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo GSR (genuine)
-1992 Eagle Summit AWD 4g63t swap (SOLD)

It's just that if you damage your control arms/ball joint trying to torch it and attempting to remove it goes unsuccessful, you're now looking as the prospect of being stuck.

You've had time to drive this car, right, and it doesn't pull to a side uncontrollably or do you get any vibration? I'm not sure what to tell you...but if you think it's not life-threatening at this time then run them until you get another vehicle running.....then focus on that project. I just want to tell you that cause I was in the same situation....except the threads on my lower ball joints were stripped and cross threaded and blown pretty bad. Suffered a lot of down time trying to remove them. Don't get me wrong man....not trying to tell you that it's okay to put off replacing ball joints, I know first hand what can happen when that wheel jumps off the lower control arm while getting on the highway. I am lucky to be alive to say that.

Hope I helped somehow.

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Good stuff - trucks bring it!

Yeah when i inspected them they are so bad that i could definalty see them separating if corning hard and hitting a hard pothole or something. Definalty not safe how they are.

I can also hear them "popping" and making noises when im going slow and turning/going over muddy bumps in my property. The ball joints are definalty going to have to be replaced ASAP. I fear that they would separate at the worst time (like going 100 MPH around a corner on the highway)

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-1989 Colt GT (stock for now)
-1993 Dodge colt 4g63 swap
-1992 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo GSR (genuine)
-1992 Eagle Summit AWD 4g63t swap (SOLD)

Well i changed the ball joints today. They were actually fairly easy to do. No problems. I did have a ball joint press to help me out, but im sure if you had some big sockets and a big hammer you could do the same thing with a a hammer instead of the ball joint press.

Okay here im going to do a write up with pics on how to replace the OEM front lower ball joints on a 89 Colt GT. Sorry about picture quality, they came off my 4 year old cell phone.

First of all, you can choose to remove the lower control arm or do this on the car. I didn't have access to a hoist right now so I chose to just remove the control arms from the car and bring them to my shop where i have a ball joint press.

Anyways to remove the lower control arm you will need a pickle fork to free up the lower ball joint from the knuckle. Its pretty easy to remove, you just have to be CAREFULL that you dont strip the swaybar endlinks. Spray some Pen. Lube on it and let it sit a bit before you loosen it. You need to use a allen key to hold the stud from turning when you remove the endlink from the control arm bracket.


Once you get access to the ball joint then take a flat head screw driver and take a hammer and pop up the rubber boot that surounds the ball joint. This is another reason why it is nice with the control arm removed beacuse you have lots of room to remove the boot.


Then remove the old boot cpmpletely


Here you can see that the OEM ball joints DONT even use a C clip to hold them in. They just are pressed in and that is it. No need to find and remove the clip... cuz there is none!


Then take the control arm and secure it and you use this tool to press the ball joint out and the new one in.


.....Pressing the old one out


Here you can see the old ball joint has been pressed out. It did not take much effort for the press to get it out. No big deal at all.


Clean up the surfaces on the lower control arm with some sandpaper and dab a bit of grease on it and the ball joint to aid in pressing it back in


Then flip the press around the other way and press the new ball joint into the lower control arm.


Once you have it fully pressed in and seated you can install the C-clip that the aftermarket ball joint comes with to keep it from backing out.


Then install the Grease nipple


and install the boot. Here is the finished product.


You can use a grease gun to pump in the new grease now, or later on once you have the control arm installed back in the car, your choice

When you re-install the control arm and ball joint assembly back into the car make sure to jack up on the lower control arm to keep the ball joint stud from turning as you tighten the nut.



And here it is. All finished and ready for many more years of abuse! And no more need to worry that your wheel is going to almost fall off going fast around a corner lol


There you go guys!! Have fun replacing your ball joints!

I would imagine it is the same thing on a DSM and a 4G as well. So these instructions should apply for them as well.

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-1989 Colt GT (stock for now)
-1993 Dodge colt 4g63 swap
-1992 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo GSR (genuine)
-1992 Eagle Summit AWD 4g63t swap (SOLD)

Wow....you did what we could not do with my ball joints! It's a good feeling to know that's all been replaced.

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Good stuff - trucks bring it!

Nice job and excellent write up!

Very nice, this will be getting moved to the archives.

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93 Mitsubishi Expo LRV 1.8/manual
95 Eagle Summit DL Coupe 1.5/manual
01 Mitsubishi Mirage ES Sedan 1.8/manual

Incredible. I'm definitely elated that it is in fact possible to replace these stupid things! Especially because they're really cheap, and one of mine is already bad. I'm going to call around and see what it will cost to have them done on my car (I'm 500mi from my garage and don't have half the tools necessary to do it myself).

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1989 Mirage Turbo w/4G63T
1991 Mazda MX-5 (UK spec)
2018 Hyundai I30N

Is this new ball joints are the same as 1.5l table? Any part number?

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Colt92t: 12.71@107mph/ 1.8 60' on 22x8x15' slicks, 4g63t, 16g@15psi, FMIC, 3" TBE, K&N, EcmLink

I've done the exact same thing with my balljoints before, so I was a little confused with everyone saying it can't be done. I unfortunately do that crap every day, so I suppose I'm used to things trying to be difficult.

I just break out a bigger press or hammer or breaker bar and laugh at the puny mortal car part.

awesome.



Another helpful thread.