Hello All - Mark here, nice to find this forum and all the help/tips - thanks up front!
I recently bought a '99 GTP. This past weekend I replaced the CV axle shaft on the passenger side and the wheel hub bearing. The pickle fork tool I used to separate the ball joint from the knuckle tore the boot on the joint and got a bunch of gunk in there now too so I've decided I'm going to replace the entire control arm as none of these parts have ever been replaced and I'm hitting 120k miles.
My question is - I'm having a heck of a time getting the ball joint stud back up into the knuckle. The hole it passes through in the knuckle (so you can put the castle nut and cotter pin back in) keeps getting caught on the lip of the stud where the threads meet the bare section of the stud.
I've tried compressing the springs with a spring compressor but do to the size of the spring compressor bolts can't get it to compress more than two coils (keeps hitting the top of the engine bay where the strut bolts pass through). I can't get the strut off (really don't want to so have not tried too aggressively) I also have used a hydraulic jack to compress more and pushed down on the control arm. Now I have it stuck. I can probably get it back out but when I put the new control arm on I don't want to ruin the stud and/or new ball joint.
Any advice would be much appreciated!! Thanks
(sorry if I posted this in the wrong spot, I'm an IT tech guy and a pretty good back yard mechanic but not versed on using forums)
