Thread: Ball joint is stuck

Last night (for about 5 hours) I was stuck trying to get my front Driver ball joint to pop loose from the knuckle (I'm trying to change a bad axle, way too much car shaking around!)

I'm totally flummoxed, I tried hitting with hammers, jumping (literally) on prybars, smashing the living Schtick out of a pickle fork and all to no avail. The silly ball joint separator tool I borrowed from Autozone was too short to fit into the space behind the knuckle and wouldn't sit on the stud.

If the stud is seized into the knuckle what do I do to get it out that I haven't already tried? Is there a better tool? If I just changed the control arms (they are 15 years old...) would that give me more room at the knuckle end? Do I need a bigger hammer?

Man, these past 2 months have had way too many repairs

Sincerely,

Still covered in grease and tired of repairs

BFH

I've had to heat the knuckle with a torch where the ball joint goes through the knuckle, and then use a good sized Ford wrench on it and it finally popped loose. Keep the nut just to the top of the ball joint threads so you get a good hit on it without mushrooming the end of the joint.

The separator didnt slide on far enough to get the ball joint stud on the inside of the knuckle, the pry bar, with me (230 lbs) jumping (literally) on it and wifey smacking the knuckle, didn't budge and I don't have a torch. Im considering taking the knuckle off the strut so I can pull it down and out of the way. All I want is the stupid CV Axle anyway!

Originally Posted by Scottydoggs

you need to put a long bar through the lca, then under the frame, then stand on it, then hit the lca @ the ball joint area with a hammer.

Did that, big bar and big hammer = didn't let go

Originally Posted by CrazyGuy03

Use the jack in special way

Even tried some of those shenanigans!

If all you're wanting is to remove the cv axle, I actually found it's easier just to disconnect the arm at the subframe, remove the axle nut and pry on the bushings until the arm comes free. Saves a bunch of time and frustration.

Which is the preferred method: pulling the knuckle off the strut or pulling the control arm off the sub frame?

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll get it done this week(end) and let everyone know how it went!

Thanks for all the help folks! Old axle is out (definitely had a bearing that was shot...little metal rods all in the housing) new axle is in an no more shaking! Thanks!