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Since I am going to be doing the control arms on The Beast tomorrow...
I've been considering tools that will get the ball joints out of the spindle.
The method I prefer is to thread the nut to the end of its threads and hit it with a hammer. That normally pops it right out.
This also, normally, allows it to be reused.
A video I watched, though, said (in a wonderful Australian accent), "You're throwin' this part away, no need to be gentle!"
He's so right!
If the hammer fails, I have a pickle fork around here someplace.
It surprises me the number of videos I've seen with people struggling with some sort of screw driven contraption when a good whack with a hammer would suffice.
My dad, a long time mechanic, taught me a trick to separating ball joints:
ReplyDeleteDon't hit along the axis of the pin (ie up or down on the nut), loosen the nut, then hit the side of the hub or control arm where the ball joint pin goes through it. Back the arm with another hammer if it looks fragile.
As a yute, I struggled for hours one day to get a joint apart, and failed. Dad came home, leant over the the hub, picked up the hammer, and hit it once. POP, and it fell apart.
I wanted to believe that I had loosened it, but I was lying to myself. :)
The lower ball joints on The Precious were like that. No direct attack worked, a relatively light tap on the sides of the a-arm and POP.
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