I am planning to replace the ball joints on my 66 Coronet myself. I understand the top one is threaded and takes a special socket, etc. and I'm prepared for that one. Is the lower ball joint pressed in? Will I need special tools to remove and replace it?I was not planning to take the a-frame apart. Is this a mistake? i.e. should I replace the bushing etc. even if they don't appear to be bad. Car has 60K miles. Any feedback would be appreciated!
Thom

The bottom one's will be allready in the part that you get, you just change the whole bottom piece out. On the other bushings it would be very wise to go ahead and replace them all while you have it apart because they are probaly bad where you can't see them since they are so old. Good Luck!

I would go to your local parts store and rent or borrow the ball joint tool set, tell them what you are doing. if you decide you are going to replace the bushing then an alignment will need to be done after that.

Do yourself a BIG favor and invest in a service manual. I bought a CD version for my 67 on ebay some years back for around $30. Quick search on ebay only came up with a hard copy reproduction (was an original one also for more money).

The manual will answer all these questions and much more.....

ebay service manual

Found a CD version........... Its cheaper.

CD Version

Even cheaper CD version..........

CD Version

Coupla things: 1.) Remove the upper ball joint before you remove the control arm. In other words use the car as your "vise" to hold the control arm in place. 2.) Soak the upper ball joint "threads" with a good penetrating oil. 3.) It should take at least 115 to 125 ft.lbs. of tourqe to thread the new ball joint in as it's basically an intereference fit. If it's looser than that you'll need another control arm.