got the ball joint out of the front spindle/hub assembly. but i can't get it out of the control arm.

 

i've been pounding the snot out of the control arm with a massively heavy digging bar, the entire car is shaking violently...i can't believe it's not coming out.

 

i've never been stumped with 80's rusted out ball joints, i would have never guessed this 96 legacy would be so problematic.

 

tips/tricks?

ive heard of people keeping the pinch bolt in for the ball joint and undoing the balljoint nut and pounding the living hell out of the lower control arm.....ive never done that but apparently it works for some people.......also maybe some PB.....

ugh i feel your pain... i just replaced mine too... i heated the part with a torch and gave some good pounding.. it came loose that way

One trick I've seen posted on this forum (I'd love to give credit to the poster but I don't remember the name:confused: ) that I thought sounded good was to put the castle nut on backwards so the "castle" is facing the controller arm and put a jack underneath it and jack away until it pops.

Put a sledge on one side, beat the other with a BFH as well. The force will be maximized in the tapper. A jack on the bottom of the stud doesn't hurt.

keeping the pinch bolt in for the ball joint and undoing the balljoint nut and pounding the living hell out of the lower control arm.

also maybe some PB.....

put the castle nut on backwards so the "castle" is facing the controller arm and put a jack underneath it and jack away

i tried all of those, didn't budge.

 

Put a sledge on one side, beat the other with a BFH as well.

i don't understand this one? a sledge where? and what is a sledge?

 

i heated the part with a torch and gave some good pounding

i think i need to try this next.....i didn't think heat would help the ball joint, not sure what made me think that.

put the sledge on the ball joint stud. Beat on the bottom of the sledge with a heavy hammer. beats me what the difference is though. (bigger target??)

 

Some pictures I saw suggested pulling the control arm bolts out, the steering linkage, and then maybe removing the strut and just taking out the rest of the suspension then moving to somewhere "convenient" to disassemble it.

 

Sounds like what you need is a BIG 3jaw puller (or a hydraulic press) or a combo of the 2?

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95326

If you are replacing it why not just use a picklefork? It is a little hard on the boot but if you are replacing the ball joint it doesn't matter.

 

Jim

[ ] <> ( )

 

 

Sledge Hammer = [ ]

 

A-Arm at the ball joint = <>

 

BFH = ( )

 

Holding the sledge against the a-arm helps keep the force of the hammer you are swinging in the A-Arm tapper. It will pop out most of the time.

thanks all.

 

pickle fork - how well do they work? i'll buy one of these this weekend - do they work well on ones that are really hard to get out?

 

okay larry you're making me feel dumb.... the sledge hammer is just resting on top of the a-arm - acting as just weight to hold it? and then pound with a hammer from underneath?

 

pickle fork and removing the entire control arm sounds like the way to go right now. out of town for the weekend so i'll be back at it monday.

 

3 jaw puller - i tried but couldn't get it lined up well enough to put much force on it. torched it last night too and still didn't help.

I can't say that I'm a big fan of Auto Zone for parts. But they lent me a pickle fork for FREE when I replaced the ball joints in my 99 Forester at around 150,000 miles. I live in the road salt-free deep south. Even so, it took a lot of heavy pounding with a baby sledge hammer on that pickle fork to remove the stud. I can only imagine the job in the rust belt. What a nightmare.

Even so, it took a lot of heavy pounding with a baby sledge hammer on that pickle fork to remove the stud.

oh really...so that's how it works, it's not a threaded device at all, it just requires pounding? great...more pounding. i hope that pickle fork is stout because it's going to take some serious whacks to pop this out.

 

if anyone knows any other tools worthy of this task, speak up. i'd spend a lot of money to make sure i don't have this problem again. not worth my time.

oh really...so that's how it works, it's not a threaded device at all, it just requires pounding? great...more pounding. i hope that pickle fork is stout because it's going to take some serious whacks to pop this out.

 

if anyone knows any other tools worthy of this task, speak up. i'd spend a lot of money to make sure i don't have this problem again. not worth my time.

 

It's basically a heavy two pronged crowbar that fits between the bottom of the "ball" of the ball joint and the control arm. It has a long arm for leverage that you pound on like a mad man with a sledge hammer. Don't be gentle.

3# is about right. Bash on. Take out the week's frustration on it (Actually should only take maybe 5 whacks if you hit it hard enough and straight) And if it won't come out, get a bigger hammer

 

Just make sure the nut is off the stud first :-p

They make a pickle fork attachment for an air chisel too. MMMMMMMMMMM, POWER TOOLS!

The ball joint separator I used is the lever type, like this: http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/...ZX/appId-480787 The inside of the fork had to be ground away a bit (with angle grinder) to get enough purchase grip on the upper side of the control arm. Loosen the nut, get the separator in place. Since I was going to replace the balljoint I pretty freely hammered it into position. Screw it tight and wait a few minutes; mine popped off pretty quickly. (I hate pickle forks) .

 

the rivet between the 2 parts of the puller eventually fails, but is easily replaceable with a bolt.

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=30287

They make a pickle fork attachment for an air chisel too. MMMMMMMMMMM, POWER TOOLS!

 

i have an air hammer...is that the same thing. i don't even know what it's for and have never used it. wonder if that has attachments? i bet it's not strong enough though. the impact wrench it came with won't loosen tight nuts.

 

i'll check that jcwhitney thing out, if you think it's better than a fork then AWESOME!

i have an air hammer...is that the same thing. i don't even know what it's for and have never used it. wonder if that has attachments? i bet it's not strong enough though. the impact wrench it came with won't loosen tight nuts.

 

i'll check that jcwhitney thing out, if you think it's better than a fork then AWESOME!

 

Maybe Uniberp got lucky. I tried the exact same tool, and it FAILED before the ball joint came loose. Save, your time, money, and aggro just go straight to the pickle fork and be done with it. The pickle fork, it big, it's dumb, and it has no moving parts-just what you need for the job.

I just did mine on my XT and it was easy once I got the pickle fork. It took 3 good whacks with the BFH and that did it. Frank

I've always used a pickle fork, same deal 2 to 4 whacks and its undone. Tears the boot but when it's being replaced so what.

I'll throw my vote in for the pickle fork too since you're not keeping the ball joint. I've never managed to use one without destroying the boot, but since you're replacing, they work better then pounding just on the ball joint 'cause they have a lot of mechanical advantage due to the taper of the fork tongs.

thanks all, it worked!

 

pickle fork a.k.a. ball joint separator was AWESOME. just the ticket.

 

i had pounded, used the jack trick, bashed the snot out of my control arm...PB blaster, torched it....multiple combinations of above....and it wouldn't move.

 

the ball joint separator took one minute and it was out. what a great tool to have.

 

thanks!

 

the ball joint separator took one minute and it was out. what a great tool to have.

 

 

They make smaller ones for tie rod ends too