October 10, 200619 yr Author you need a 24" (min., 36" is better) breaker bar 3/4" drive. you won't use it everyday, but when you need it you'll have it. Picked up a 24" 3/4" breaker bar and socket assortment this morning at harborfreight, came home and had the nut off in about 3min. Thanks for the advice guys. I look forward to helping some other folks down the road.
October 10, 200619 yr Author did you use a pipe or are you just a tough guy? No pipe and it was actually an 18" breaker. Unfortunately I got in deeper and have now stripped the locking bolt on the ball joint:confused: I'm going to search the forum for work arounds. I guess in the worst case I may have to disconnect the strut to see if that gives me enough room to get the shaft out. I'm going to pick up some stripped bolt socket things first but if all else fails...
October 10, 200619 yr Off the top of my head I think some guys have had to cut that bolt off with a Dremal and drill it out. I bet some of the other folks who have done a lot of these have some good ideas for you.
October 10, 200619 yr Author Off the top of my head I think some guys have had to cut that bolt off with a Dremal and drill it out. I bet some of the other folks who have done a lot of these have some good ideas for you. I think I am about ready to try drilling it out from the backside and using a longer bolt with a nylock and lockwasher (with antisieze of course)
October 10, 200619 yr That has been done too. When my wheel bearing went out I just got a used knuckle/hub/bearing from a junkyard for $45 shipped so if all else failed you could just replace the whole thing.
October 10, 200619 yr If you would just consider moving to CA this stuff can actually be dissasembled. Good luck!
October 10, 200619 yr Author If you would just consider moving to CA this stuff can actually be dissasembled. Good luck! I swear it's not my fault! I got billited out here and I would give anything to get back to the west coast. We'll see how the cards play out when I am up for transfer again. I'd honestly like to get back to washington but I'll settle for oregon, nor-cal, or alaska again.
October 10, 200619 yr There's hope for you yet. Lots of jobs in Vegas and little rust out there. Good luck.
October 10, 200619 yr Eh, a little love with a 3/4" drive and you can have almost any nut off, rust or not.
October 10, 200619 yr Author There's hope for you yet. Lots of jobs in Vegas and little rust out there. Good luck. I wish, I'm in the coast guard:brow:
October 10, 200619 yr It might not be a good idea to switch to Army or National Guard right now although you would learn a lot about sand. Good luck with your project and thanks for your service.
October 11, 200619 yr Author Back to my current issue. Has anyone just left the ball joint pinch bolt alone and removed it the other way? By taking off the crown nut from the bottom and using a pickle fork to pop the shaft out. I was able to get the crown nut loose thats why I'm asking.
October 11, 200619 yr you can do that but it's possible to damage the boot on the ball joint with a pickle fork so be careful. To get mine off I used a puller I rented from autozone and a prybar. The bolt wasn't really willing to come out of the control arm, but once I had the puller pushing on the end of the bolt, the prybar between the arm and knuckle, it popped off with a shot from a hammer. Strangly enough the ball joint slid right out.
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