upper ball joint replacement time

[john42]

So the part I thought was going to be hard... was easy and the easy part is turning out hard.

The ball joint was able to unscrew with a decent breaker bar pretty easily on first try. However the spindle won't come off!

180080

The ball joint is unscrewed to the last few threads. I expect the spindle to drop down. I've turned, I've pried, I even hammered and so far no luck. So before I do anything else that I may regret later... I come to the wisdom of the forum to tell me the error of my ways.

[rich grsc]

Just thread the ball joint back into the A-arm. It most likely isn't damaged. But if you insist on changing the BJ, you need two BIG hammers. Place one hammer on one side of the spindle where the threaded BJ passes through, take the second hammer and hit the opposite side of the spindle as hard as you can. I mean really hit, the BJ will pop loose of the spindle.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Or….just use a pickle fork. It’ll damage the boot but you’ll be getting a new one with the replacement joint.

Jeff

[Mike.Bray]

It's locked on the taper, as it should be. Shocking it with a good hard hit like Rich suggested might break it loose. I prefer the ball joint remover as Jeff recommended. Sometimes you need both, wedge the fork in and then whack it good with a big hammer.

[emac]

I really like this design of BJ remover. I do a combo of this tool and Rich's hammer technique. Tighten this tool and wack the side of the spindle, the shock usually knocks it loose. Leave the nut on the BJ.


180090

[john42]

I’ll get a pickle fork in the morning and give it a whirl. Thanks!!

[Tbev]

I tried the pickle fork in Emac's post on my lowers and found it was not big enough. So I used threaded rod and washers. The ball joint popped right out and you don't have to worry about damaging the boot.180096

[CraigS]

I use a 3-4# sledge hammer.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-Kobalt-4LB-Engineers-Hammer-F-G/5001939555

[weendoggy]

I use a 3-4# sledge hammer.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-Kobalt-4LB-Engineers-Hammer-F-G/5001939555

That's just under a BFH for size, but it'll work too. :)

[john42]

All done! Didn't use a hammer. After sleeping on it I had a little idea to try. I took my 3/4in wrench and wedged it between the spindle and the upper control arm. I then unscrewed the ball joint and the spindle popped right off. Very easy. No hammering required. New ball joints are in and I just need it to stop raining so I can go get an alignment done. As always thanks for the help!

As to the spot weld to hold it in place. I'll add that the old ball joints have been in there since 2006. Been under hard racing for many many years and over the last 2 years another 25k miles put on it by me doing SCCA and just driving it all the time. There was no weld and no evidence of locktight. The ball joints unscrewed with minimal fuss with a 3 foot breaker bar. I didn't even grunt and they likely would have unscrewed with something much smaller. I put the new ones in the same way however I did put locktight (red) on the threads. I'll keep on eye on them of course. While my car is a MK3 it has been upgraded with MK4 front suspension, and breeze sway bar.