DeWolf

I have a lower ball joint that will not friggin budge. I used a ball joint remover and it broke. I tried a press and the threaded end of the ball joint started to bend. If I apply heat, and lots of it, is there any chance of making the spindle/knuckle weak?

Cheers
Scott

FredR

There will always be exceptions to the rule but the general trick to dislodge these things is to wind them up tight on the extactor and then whack it with a hammer [a rubber mallett usally does the trick for me]- generally it then goes "boing" and you are home and dry.

If you can put tension on the joint in a press of some kind you can try percussion on that as well. Te vibration energy is generally enough to allow the thing to snap free.

DeWolf

ohhh I tried that already Fred. I reckon I hit that bastard with 20 tons of force with a Thor like hammer I was so annoyed.

FredR

Scott,

Sounds as though you are up Sh*t creek without a paddle at the moment!

Is the lower arm still on the car? Presumably not if you managed to get it into a press. From your description it sounds as though heat is the only way forward now.

The better news is that in round terms aluminium expands at twice the rate of steel so that should give you a fighting chance as long as you do not melt the stuff! Edit: Ignore that sentence - I believe the wheel carrier is made of forged steel- apologies for the brain fart.

Do not worry about the ball joint- just bin it if it is trashed- they are not very expensive [not that we do not have enough to spend our limited spare $$$'s on].

hacker-pschorr

You need to load it up with a separator and hit the location indicated by the arrow with a ballpeen hammer:

Mikebte

^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is the way, snug and hammer. Snug and hammer. Rinse and repeat.

DeWolf

Thanks gents. I'll give that a go. Probably made it harder for myself now that it's actually out of the car.

dr bob

A hammer on either side will usually get even the most stubborn pieces out. Avoid heat if you, as it will affect the arm.

Greg Nichols

I ran in to this problem recently and came here to RennList looking for wisdom. I followed all of the tips in this thread, thinking confidently that it was finally going to pop free, but, alas, nothing worked. Even though I was using a heavy-duty ball joint separator tool, the amount of torque I was applying to the leveraging bolt was beginning to damage the threads. I was getting desperate at this point and was out of ideas. So, I gave up. Then, in one last, desperate effort before declaring utter failure, I grabbed the 3-lb sledge hammer from my toolbox and whacked the bottom of the separator tool, as shown by the arrow, below. Imagine my glee when that ball joint bolt popped loose! Yes, I was very happy, indeed, and the rest of the job went smoothly.

Mrmerlin

You would be wise to put some grease on the threads of the tool
Glad you got the joint to pop loose