Separating ball joints from knuckles?

[Matej]

Sorry for the newbie question, but is there anything holding the ball joints inside the knuckles?
It doesn't look like there is anything holding them in on the bottom. I already took off the nut at the top, and the manual doesn't say much on how to remove them.
I've been hammering at them and spraying them with PB Blaster for about an hour now, and they're not budging.
Is there a trick to getting them out, or should I just keep on hammering?
Thanks for any help.

[racepar1]

Beat the crap outta the knuckle where the ball joint shank goes through it with a BFH. Not the top of the ball joint shank to drive it through, but the knuckle itself on the side. The vibration will break it loose. Done it a bajillion times.

[Matej]

Haha okay I see, thanks, I guess I'll need a BiggerFH.

[racepar1]

If you are not worried about ripping the rubber boot you could get a pickle fork as well. It is a 2 pronged wedge that will separate it.

[Matej]

Just got the first one out, looks like they go after all!

[mRclARK1]

I just put a nut I don't need on top and give it one sharp fast hit and it usually pops out.

It's just tough to hit things on your car when you're afraid of breaking something. haha

[Def]

Yep, nut on top and hit it with a 5 lb sledge and it'll come off. Gotta take your strut off to do this, but it'll come off with a few hits. Hitting the side doesn't work if they're REALLY siezed in there.

[PBucch]

Damn right, whack those fuckers with the baby sledge.

Ive worked on rusty ass domestics with 200k, everything drops when you hit hte spindle with a big enough hammer and enough italian muscle.

I would advise against hammering a nut on top of the bj, good way to ruin the threads.

[ManoNegra]

Spray some lubricant in there and let it sit for a few mins.
Then hammer time.

[Katsumbhong]

Don't smack on the threads, smack on the knuckle itself. There is a tool out there to seperate ball joints though.

[projectRDM]

Ball joint splitter works great, but a hammer does the job. I don't thread the nut on anymore because the threads can crown with the nut in place, making the nut impossible to remove. I had to cut a ball joint in half a few months ago due to that.

[MELLO*SOS]

Like mentioned before, If you're going to replace with brand new balljoints anyways, just use a picklefork! It will destroy the BJ by ripping the rubber all up, so don't do this if you're planning to re-use (??) that balljoint/arm. There's also another type of balljoint removal tool that you can borrow from autozone that IIRC doesn't destroy the joint (but I haven't used it myself).

[chituntang]

The first time I try I used a fork. That just did not work for me. If your area has a advance auto part store, they will have the other set of ball joint splitter. Also get the ball joint remover so you can replace them.

[blu808]

Hammer the flat side of the knuckle itself.

Its a conical fitting and the vibration will loosen it up.

A few hard smacks should do it.

[surreybc]

5 hits with a 3 lb hammer on the bolt worked for me.

[blu808]

well maybe it worked for you, but you should never hit the "bolt" threaded part. Hit the actual knuckle.

[surreybc]

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e25/vancouverbc_2008/wha001.jpg
I have seen them as cheap as $16. the forks dont seem to work well with ball joints. hate to see people using sledge hammers

[blu808]

what happened to your original post of " 5 hits with the 3 lb hammer on the bolt worked for me" ?

[surreybc]

otes:
1. 3 lb hammer was sufficient to pound out ball joint. maybe hit it once to break rust and then let wd40 penetrate. I think there is a special tool that might be better for this. not the fork. hitting it with hammer could damage the steering tie rod.
2. definitely have something to support the knuckle as it hangs by brake line.
3. obviously , do this on flat ground.
4. I found a small pry bar useful for positioning the tension control rod bushing end when putting it back on. screwdriver would help too.
5. putting the 22 mm nut on the ball joint before hammering caused a couple problems. first, it rounded the nut so it was hard to get socket on it to remove it. second, once the ball joint is out, the bolt part rotates with the nut so had to use locking plier to hold ball joint as i tried to undo nut.
however, if you pound on the ball joint bolt , you prolly wont be able to get nut back on it. I couldnt. easier to pound out without the nut attached.
6. tension control rod definitley has to be removed.
7. it is better to leave tension control rod and control arm in place until you remove the 22 mm nut because otherwise the knuckle is just hanging there and you have no leverage.
8. definitely needed a long breaker bar. at least 2 ft long for leverage for several of the bolts.

Inside the ball joint, the grease had the viscosity of clay.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e25/vancouverbc_2008/controlarm004.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e25/vancouverbc_2008/controlarm002.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e25/vancouverbc_2008/controlarm005.jpg

[surreybc]

what happened to your original post of " 5 hits with the 3 lb hammer on the bolt worked for me" ?

my heart just insnt in it anymore after they eliminated the repping system. :dead:

[blu808]

haha. true true.

Im just wondering why you posted about hitting it with a hammer, then posted up the other.


thats it man.


pos imaginary rep for you. :yum::yum::yum::yum::yum::yum::yum::yum::yum::yum:

[racepar1]

You should leave the knuckle attached to the strut when you remove the ball joint.

[downshift_sideways]

I have a ball join puller, and a fat sludge hammer.

A few wacks and it's off.

along with brown goo everywhere.