July 27, 200619 yr 1991 XT6. Tried replacing my ball joint last night. Got it out of the control arm but it refuses to come out of the hub. pinch bolt is loosened, chiseled it all the way open. sprayed liberally with Liquid Wrench. wailed on the ball joint with a chisel many dozens of times. any ideas? i also have another hub that has new bearings in it, i should install that one but it has an axle nut that won't come off (and the axle is bad). grrrr....
July 27, 200619 yr Those Ball Joints are a pain. Juat keep dousing it with liquid wrench and maybe some PB blaster and it should eventually come out.
July 27, 200619 yr After levering the joint out of the control arm I put the nut back on and lever it again to pull it out of the hub. I use a 5ft long solid metal bar (we call them "crow-bars", but here we call what you call a crow-bar a jemmy-bar... gets confusing.) I have not problems what so ever with this method. The subarus have a fair bit of room to get the flattend end of the bar between the hub and control arm. Unlike mazdas...
July 27, 200619 yr Author I use a 5ft long solid metal bar i did that too with an 8 foot digging bar and standing/jumping on the end of it. nothing. i did not remove the pinch bolt all the way, someone just mentioned that the pinch bolt needs to be all the way removed as the threads actually catch part of the ball joints.
July 27, 200619 yr The pinch bolt passes through an indentation in the ball joint itself. If you don't pull it out there is no way you are getting that ball joint out of the spindle. One of mine was stuck in there pretty good. I soaked it in PB Blaster overnight (including spraying some into the empty pinch bolt hole) and it eventually worked loose.
July 27, 200619 yr Gary: Yeah, that bolt should be backed all the way out. I sometimes have to use a masons chisel (wider than reg chisels) to wedge the housing apart, and this usually does the trick. As for as the stripped axle nut, you might be able to nick the edges with a cutting wheel, in a couple of spots, and pry it off the threads without causing too much destruction. No doubt, those are a pain... good luck, John
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