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Are the ball joints always hell to remove? is there a better way?!


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I replaced both ball joints on my wife's 2002 OBW last night and it was a horrible experience. Bolts seized into the knuckle, ball joints REALLY seized in to the knuckle, and the ball stud stuck in the control arms! It took me 5 hours to do the whole job. I was using a 6 foot cheater bar on the end of my pry bar to pop the the joint out of the knuckle!

 

When my brother tried to replace the ball joint on his 98 RS, he ended up buying a junkyard knuckle with a good ball joint in it after he wrestled with his off and on for a week!

 

I have one ball joint with a torn boot on my Forester which I'll have to attend to soon. I'm planning on doing both sides, just to be thorough. I'm hoping it won't be as bad as my experience last night. Please tell me that there is an easier way! My back is killing me from application of brute force.

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Impact driver for the bolt and then hit the housing the ball joint go into with a big hammer. Hit it on the side right where the ball joint goes in. I have done this a few times and it pops right out. Might have to hit it a few times.

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Being a DIY, I do not have all the tools that a regular mechanic may have, so I like you try to remove items that may be easier with a specialized tool, but for whatever the reason don't buy.

That being said,, I spray with PB a day or two before I start.

After removing the pinch bolt ( which sometimes have their own issues), I remove cotter pin from castle nut and unscrew it a little to make sure it moves. Then I remove the sway bar bolt and pry downwards on the control arm. This has worked for me.in all cases but one, in which the ball joint snapped!. I then used a chisel on the ball joint until it broke free of the rust and freely rotated and pried it out.

I always run the insides of the socket with 1000 grit or finer paper, clean and anti seize.

 

O.

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Impact driver for the bolt and then hit the housing the ball joint go into with a big hammer. Hit it on the side right where the ball joint goes in. I have done this a few times and it pops right out. Might have to hit it a few times.

Someone clearly doesn't live in a rusty place! You have my envy. I wish it were this easy  :lol:

 

Put them back together with anti seize coating everything. Come apart no problem next time.

Living in the rust belt, I buy it in the biggest container they sell. I can't live without it!

 

Being a DIY, I do not have all the tools that a regular mechanic may have, so I like you try to remove items that may be easier with a specialized tool, but for whatever the reason don't buy.

That being said,, I spray with PB a day or two before I start.

After removing the pinch bolt ( which sometimes have their own issues), I remove cotter pin from castle nut and unscrew it a little to make sure it moves. Then I remove the sway bar bolt and pry downwards on the control arm. This has worked for me.in all cases but one, in which the ball joint snapped!. I then used a chisel on the ball joint until it broke free of the rust and freely rotated and pried it out.

I always run the insides of the socket with 1000 grit or finer paper, clean and anti seize.

 

O.

Sounds like I'll just have to keep muscling them out!

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No,  as you discovered there is no easy way to remove ball joints .Best to use a pickle fork on the ball joint / control arm . The big hammer method does work in some applications , but not very well on ball joints. As mentioned the pinch bolt can be frozen and break... at least it can be dealt with. Now the sob portion is getting it out of the knuckle, vice grips ... hammers ... big chisels to spread the knuckle ,small chisels to force that little lip down.  lots of high quality penetrating oil (Kano Kroil ) small amounts of blood... lots of cussing...hopefully no smashed fingers.  Yea, they can be a no fun at all ... reassemble with lots of anti seize.  Also do them one side at a time , less stress that way.

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This tool is pretty amazing (I've used the snap-on version, and there was a local MN guy hand making them for Turn-in Concepts a few years ago (sniper1fa) which I've also used. But this is the same idea:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Company23-Removal-1993-15-Impreza-Forester/dp/B0176TH2WG

I'm too cheap to buy that for how infrequently I have to do ball joints, but it is definitely a sweet solution!

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Bigger hammer! 

 

JK. When they're rusty its pretty much going to be a fight and that's just the way it is. A combination of methods has worked for me in the past, but mostly its lots of hammering and swearing and priseing. Sometimes some heat, and usually a couple sprays of good penetrating oil. 

 

Get to do a ball joint this weekend on my 95. 261k miles original joint and it looks pretty rusted in there! 

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Get to do a ball joint this weekend on my 95. 261k miles original joint and it looks pretty rusted in there! 

 

Better you than me! Well, maybe. I'll be pulling a 4EAT, rear diff, and suspension from a Forester in the rain.

 

On second thought, I'll trade you. I just practiced my ball joint removal skills yesterday.

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I don't envy you. Have done a few 4eats on the lift with a trans jack and they're cake, but last one I did was on the floor in my friends garage and it wasn't fun or pretty. Manual trans I can handle just fine on my own, but that 4eat is a beast and the two of us barely got the thing back into place. 

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They vary wildly - can come out relatively easy (for east coast terms) or very hard - and even "hard" has a lot of different levels, I mean, a lot.   

 

In the worst condition - no tool can actually remove them.  Tools will break and strip.  And - these cases are rare but they can shatter/break the ball joint insitu. the stud rips out of the ball while it's still in the knuckle The stud is out, with some other bits and pieces,and you think you got it - are finally excited to have overcome!!!....but then you're left with part of the remaining shell of the ball rust-welded in a layer inside the convex portion of the knucle. the new ball joint wont' fit until you get that out. so then you spend an hour chiseling and drilling that shell out. 

 

That's very rare of course - it's not like I've seen that more than once or twice and I didn't try a torch - so I'm not sure if a torch would work or not.  Torch experts in the rust belt - how would a torch work in that situation?

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Geez Gary. At that point, just go to the JY and get a new knuckle!

 

Seriously. All I can remember was it was the middle of the night so getting one then wasn't an option.  I'm not sure why I didn't just wait until the next day. 

 

Junk yard options around here are limited so I try to avoid them, the one i prefer is out of the way and often doesn't have knuckles for some reason.

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