Removing ball joint from knuckle, this sucks.

[grimsleeper]

Like what tool? There seems to be a few people that have done it. All I want is for someone who's done properly to tell me how exactly they did it and what tools they used. Since all the prying and banging I've done hasn't even budged that bitch.

 

I posted a link to one of several methods that I've used dozens of times without fail (see post 12). Other than that you can screw around with pickle forks, air hammers and pitman pullers all day long with varying results. Not sure what else you need to know...

[arkadyzv]

I posted a link to one of several methods that I've used dozens of times without fail (see post 12). Other than that you can screw around with pickle forks' date=' air hammers and pitman pullers all day long with varying results. Not sure what else you need to know...[/quote']

 

Whoops, I guess I'm blind lol, that all makes sense, will try it this weekend. Thank you again.

[PeterJMC]

... Subaru ball joints... I curse the day a group of engineers designed you and gave you birth!!!

[PeterJMC]

YES!!!! Ball Joint 2 vs. Peter the Great 1

 

Saturday was a total waste and the ball joint won. Sunday it won again after struggling with it for an hour and some change. Monday I was determined to kick it's ass since my car has been down for almost two months. Right after work and kicking my brothers ass in Madden 2010 I was pumped up to whoop on the ball joint.

 

Basically I used a puller/clamp thing, a heavy as balls hammer, a small Craftsman wedge/chisel, and a few prying bars.

 

- After taking off the control arm I clamped the puller to the ball joint. Doing this will destroy it but I didn't care since I was replacing it with a new Whiteline unit.

- Take out the retaining nut and then slide the wedge/chisel into the slit. Hammer that sun of a B into the slit to spread it open.

- Spray some PB blaster at the top of the slit so it penetrates and loosens the rust.

-Take the pry bars and hammer down on the clamped on puller on each side. Left... then right... then left... then right.

 

Now I just need to remove the tie rods

 

We will see if knowing how to tackle the drivers side helps me do the passenger side any quicker.

 

Here are pics of the tools I used.

[AZP Installs]

We usually take out the LCA and place it in our vice when doing the LCA Bushings and/or the Roll Center Kits.

 

-mike

[arkadyzv]

I ended up following the others advice and using a chisel to separate the knuckle a bit, sprayed a shitload of PB blaster in there. Let it sit for a bit.

 

I rented a balljoint removal kit from Advance Auto that had all sorts of cups and washers. Put a cup under the knuckle , used some washers and the castle nut to tighten it, hit with a nice impact gun to give it that initial pop. Since mine were very rusted.

 

Then I used a huge washer from the set I rented , put it on the balljoint, tighetened down the castle nut and with a few nice hits, its came out easy as pie. Lesson learned:just taking out the nut from the knuckle is not enough, especially if you live where theres plenty of rust. By using a chisel to separate the knuckle just a little bit, made all the difference in the world. That and spraying the PB Blaster in the knuckle and letting it penetrate all that rust.

 

Thanks again to everyone.

[Silinc3r]

Just updating in case someone else runs into this issue as I did this weekend. Car has 120,XXX and is a southern car.

I'll start with the driver side.

Outer tie rod end came free from the knuckle with a pickle fork. I am replacing them so didn't care about the boot. Clevis bolt for the lower ball joint came out easy after spraying it with Aero Kroil. I then used a pickle fork to separate the control arm from the ball not thinking and then proceeded to destroy the threads using vice grips to try and hit the ball out. DO NOT DO THAT!!! Ended up having to remove the knuckle and take it to work and using a grinder, carefully cut it to remove the ball/stud, then cut the socket into quarters until it fell apart and could be removed from the knuckle. Also doing the Spec B LCA swap and had no issues removing the rest of the bolts and nuts form the arm.

 

Onto the passenger side.

Outer tie rod end, boom out. Removed the clevis bolt for the ball joint with no issues again. I had removed the sway bar end links and used that spot on the arm as a place to hit with my small sledge and boom ball joint out of the knuckle. Doing good. Went to remove the nut that holds the rear of the LCA and then realized the whole stud was moving. The nut somehow has compeletly fused to the stud. Heat didn't work, impact didn't work. Tried cutting it with a dremel but could only do so much. I'll be getting a nut splitter tomorrow and hoping for the best.

 

So my advice/tip.

Remove the sway bar end link from at least the spot on the arm so you have a place to hit the LCA. Remove the outer tie rod from the knuckle without damaging the boot. This can be done buy backing off the castle nut and using a small sledge to hit the top of the nut and it should pop it down. Swing the tie rod away. Remove the clevis bolt from the knuckle, make sure everything is sprayed with a penetrate in there and hit the end link mount on the arm and you should have it free.

I don't know if I would advise this on the aluminum arms but the steel ones are strong enough.