breaking lower ball joint loose

[SPOT MY 6]

Im in the process of rebuilding the front end on my GN. I was able to break all the tie rods loose, and the upper ball joint popped out easily. The lower balljoint will NOT separate from the lower front conrtol arm. I tried hammering the hell outta the lower arm, and even on the spindle. I have a large pry bar that I tried to use too.

Any suggestions to break the lower ball joints loose?

p.s. The upper ball joint and the tie rod ends are still connected, just loose. I haven taken the bolts all the way out yet until I break the lower ball joint loose.

 

[Steve Wood]

pickle fork and a three lb hammer or a fork that goes on an air chisle.

 

[SPOT MY 6]

Originally posted by Steve Wood
pickle fork and a three lb hammer

Where would I pound? Directly on the balljoint, or underneath it?

 

[Steve Wood]

Not sure if I can describe it without looking at it...

You drive the fork between the bottom edge of the spindle and top of the lower control arm. Try not to screw up the rubber boot....does not matter if you are replacing them.

'They actually make a tool that goes between the top of the ball joint stud and the bottom of the top of the spindle that you lengthen and it pushes the ball joint stud down out of the spindle....I don't know if the rental stores have one of those or not, but, I am pretty sure you can find a fork there.

When you do this...loosen the nut on the stud but leave it on...not all the way off...when the joint lets go, it will have spring pressure on it and it will fly apart. Leave the jack under it so once loose, you can remove the nut and ease it down.

 

[S10xGN]

Originally posted by Steve Wood
'They actually make a tool that goes between the top of the ball joint stud and the bottom of the top of the spindle that you lengthen and it pushes the ball joint stud down out of the spindle....

I actually made one of these "spreader" tools from an old junk bolt, nut & a few washers for shims. It takes very little movement to break the stud loose from the arm, maybe .050" or so. Like Steve said, loosen the lower nut until you have maybe 1/8" gap or so, then use the "spreader" between the upper and lower ball joint studs. Preload it as much as possible, then hammer on the lower arm as near as you can to the stud. When it lets loose, you will know it! If I were to make one for keeps, I'd find a grade 8 fine thread bolt and nut.

 

[ThikStik]

Heap copious amounts of PB Blaster on it for a few hours. Its available at NAPA.

 

[gnsrule]

Turn the spindel full right or full left and rap the knuckel where the stud goes thru on the spindal. I havent seen one that wont pop loose that way in a long time. If its really tight, wedge a pickel fork in there and then give it a rap, one way or another, it'll go. Sometimes you just need a bigger BFH.
Good Luck

 

[turbodave231]

GNSRULE is right. strike the knuckle right where the stud goes through (on the side). leave the nut on the stud but backed off a couple turns.

A pickle fork works but tears the sh-t of the ball joint dust seal. Not a problem if you are replacing the ball joint. I you plan on reusing the balljoint don't use a picklefork.

DR

 

[tim87tr]

I feel your pain

I am halfway through the process of putting my front end back together. A couple pointers I would add are as follows:

I went with the PST stock bushing kit. You don't need to spend the extra money to get the "super" kit since you can get the tie rod ends, sleeve connectors and other inner tie rod end parts and idler arm much cheaper than what the "super" kit offers. So if you have it all apart, replace all ball joints, bushings, etc ...I really wouldn't want to take mine apart again. Even new calipers are cheap.

The super kit also has a new upper arm bushing shaft, but the stock one can be sandblasted and painted with POR 15 to look new anyway. So also it's a good time to sand blast everything, clean with brake cleaner, and paint with the POR 15. You can do the A-arms, spindles, upper tie rod shaft, brake shields, even POR 15 the new caliper.

I have one side back together and the hardest part is using the spring compressor. The bottom of the spring is not flat and seats in the lower A-arm in only one spot. The rebuild video that you can get for $10 from PST has some good pointers in it. If I was done with it, I would just send it to you.

On removing that lower ball joint, be sure you have the spring comressor in place and jack underneath as mentioned. Instructions on the Monte SS site are good, along with other tech info on that site (look in the suspension category):
Spring Replacement &
Monte SS site -GOOD TECH INFO