need help soon, suspension and wheel problem (FIXED)

[blustreak]

OK so when we were changing my alternator out a few weekends ago, it was noticed that one of the boots on the halfshaft had a hole in it and was leaking greese. That day i tried to find a store that had a boot in stock and none did of course. So I ordered it and have it. I just tried to put it on and couldn't even get that far. I took it all apart and was so close to getting the piece on but couldn't get the halfshaft out. so of course I gave it a few hits and stopped. I got it about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through. I couldn't get it the rest of teh way out so I decided to put it all back together and now have two parts that messed up.

1. At the bottom of the "V" shaped arm that sits at the bottom of the whole thing there is a small ball joint that is now lacking a bolt to hold it in place because I couldn't get it to go back in.
2. The 1 1/4 size nut that fits in the middle of the wheel won't thread back on.

So at the moment I can't drive my car, I have no other vehicle. I really need help.

If anyone can help me soon please let me know. 404-245-7692
I'm located northeast of Georgia Tech.

[ilovemycar]

pm sent

[ilovemycar]

so chris what happened?

[gamiller]

damn. i'm a month late on this one.

1. The "V" thingy is the control arm. I'm surprised to hear that you're missing a bolt from a ball joint because those are riveted in place at the factory. To replace the ball joint, I had to take an air chisel to each of the rivets and replace them with bolts. Anyway, it shouldn't be too hard to find a replacement bolt, right? Or are you talking about some other bolt? Say, the tie rod end?
2. Oooh, that sucks. Did the threads get damaged by hitting the end of the half-shaft with a hammer?
3. Buy a Haynes manual at Advanced Auto Parts or AutoZone. They're just $12.

So what's the story now? Did you end up getting it towed somewhere?

[blustreak]

Everything came out alright. Thank you Aaron for your help.

What happened:
I went to NAPA to buy the boot. It was $40 for just the boot. So I went home to take everything apart and put the boot one. So when I tried to get the shaft out it wouldn't budge. Hitting the end was effective except it destroyed the threads. So the next day I took back the boot and ventured to CarQuest, thanks to Aaron, and they helped me find a complete assembly (both boots, shaft and new nut) for $56 and that was even after the company they sent me to had it overnighted. I made a few friends that day.

After all was said and done I walked away with a new tool set and a self-fixed problem. It taught me alot about the suspension. It seemed like it was just going to end very badly with me beating on my car but I finally got the control arm back into place. It only took me 10mins to take everything apart but 3.5 hours to put it all back together. I was sooo pissed off.

So everything is good now. I wouldn't have been able to do it without all the help I got.

thanks guys