How does one replace a steering arm?

[DTraina]

Hi guys. I recently realized that FFR had sent me two PS steering arms, but only after completing assembling the front end. I ordered the DS arm, and now I have to figure out how to remove the old one and get this new one installed. Easier said than done (for me).

I'm thinking that the easiest way to do this is to detach the shock (at the top), remove the castle nut from the ball joint bolt of the lower control arm and simply drop the lower control arm out of the spindle just enough to slide that wrong steering arm off and the new one on. Trouble is - I've done all of that (see pic showing castle nut removed - you can also see how the wrong steering arm will slide right off if I can drop that bolt) but the lower control arm refuses to drop out of the spindle. It won't budge. Shouldn't it just slide right out with a little force? Is there a trick anyone can offer? Or am I just going about this fix the wrong way entirely?

167469

[txboiler]

You can put the castle nut back on and just enough to protect the threads and try hitting it with a hammer. The heavier the hammer the better. You can also try two hammers. The heavier one leave resting on the top of the castle nut and hit the first with the second hammer.

Have you remove the lower shock bolt?

You can also use a pickle fork to separate. You will most like have to replace the dust boot using this method.

[Tbev]

167470
I attempted to separate the lower ball joint with a ball joint separator tool but it was not large enough and would not work. I did not want to use the pickle fork method because it seemed a bit violent on my brand new parts. So I raised the upper and lower arms so that they were almost parallel to the ground and cut a piece of threaded rod slightly smaller than the distance between the upper and lower ball joint studs. I then backed out the lower castle nut to the end of the threads and put some washers on it with the threaded rod going through the washers. I then placed two bolts on the threaded rod and while holding the top bolt on the upper stud I loosened the lower bolt until the ball joint popped out. Did it twice and it worked perfectly both times. Hope that helps.

Edit: When raising the upper and lower arms to parallel you must raise it from the upper A arm and not with a jack from the lower arm as the lower arm needs to move freely in order for the ball joint to pop.

[CraigS]

Sometimes combining Tbev's bolt, nut, washer method w/ the hammer method helps. Having the pressure provided by the bolts added to the vibrations from the hammer will reduce how hard you need to hit it. I use a 3# sledge hammer and w/o the bolts it takes every bit of strength I have to get them to pop loose which also means my accuracy drops off. So the worst part of the job can be the damage I do to nearby parts. Another tool that is nice to have is an air powered impact hammer. BTW guys this is a great way to show that torqueing these nuts is not needed. I tighten as tight as I can by pulling on the end of the wrench. Once in a while I hit the wrench w/ my sledge, not to get it tighter, but to get the cotter pin holes to line up.

[rich grsc]

Wouldn't removing the hub allow you to remove the two bolts holding the arm? Never hit the threaded top of the ball joint, a good way to damage the threads. You can take take two heavy hammers, hold one on one side of the casting where the BJ passes through the spindle, hit the opposite side has hard has you can, the BJ will pop right out.

[frankb]

What Rich said...remove the hub/brake disk. The bolts will come out allowing removal of the steering arm.

[Bob Cowan]

To remove stuck ball joints, I put a small bottle jack between the arms and place some pressure on the joint. A few light whacks with a ball peen hammer and they pop right out. Leave the castle nut in place with about 1/4" or so of free space - keeps stuff from flying around when they pop loose.

[DTraina]

Hi Rich - thanks for the response. I like your idea of removing the hub/brake disk and going about it that way rather than trying to force the ball joint. Any tricks/tips for how to remove the hub dust cover without shredding it? It's a tight fit - had to use a mallet to get it in there.

[rich grsc]

Use a soft face hammer, tapping around the outer edge, hitting towards the center, or a screwdriver along the edge