Front Ball joint Removal

[AM400]

Has anyone got any tips for removing the big upper and lower front ball joints?
Both my balljoint removers are to small, I know there is a Ford tool that can do the job but is there anything else more readily available?
Also how the hell do you stop the whole joint turning when trying to remove a nut!
It looks like a replacement so has a Nyloc on it and not the castle nut and split pin.
Other than that everyting else has come off the front pretty easy, looks like a job lot to the powder coaters shortly.

Cheers Andy

[york33]

BIG hammer and tuning fork style splitter worked for me. Failing that you can get a more subtle device like this, keep meaning to but like my hammer too much

www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=040211222&r=2205&g=107

You can usually stop the joint spinning by applying pressure to the other side, jack lightly under lower joint will often do the trick for holding both of them.

cheers
Dave

[AM400]

Cheers Dave,

The tuning fork type was one I have tried, think there are varing sizes though so I must have a small one!

With rgards to the moving joint, I took the complete hub assembly off today so got a good grip with a pair of mole grips and the nut came off no problem. The ball joint remained unscathed to but will be replaced along with everything else I have removed. Putting it all back together again should be fun!

Andy

[york33]

Best of luck with it......

cheers
Dave

[h2dca]

Hi Andy,
Managed to split mine by undoing both nuts until the tops of the nuts were flush with the top of the male threaded portion. I then inserted the car's sisscor jack, apply tension and tapped on the side of the stub axle and they popped out.

Best regards
Hamish

[andy390]

if you've got a welder/ friend with a welder,its really easy to replicate the ford tool,using an old ford wheel nut and an old M14 bolt approximately the right length. weld a nipple on the end of the bolt,and fill in the end of the nut,with a pointed end
you unwind the nut on the bolt and it forces both ball joints apart.
HTH
Andy

>> Edited by andy390 on Wednesday 30th March 16:13

[AM400]

h2dca said:

Hi Andy, Managed to split mine by undoing both nuts until the tops of the nuts were flush with the top of the male threaded portion. I then inserted the car's sisscor jack, apply tension and tapped on the side of the stub axle and they popped out. Best regards Hamish

Hi Hamish,

Using the scissor jack was my thoughts exactly but once I had got the tricky nut off, the joint just fell out! the other one dropped out with a few blows.

Hope yours is all going well.

Cheers

Andy

[AM400]

andy390 said:

if you've got a welder/ friend with a welder,its really easy to replicate the ford tool,using an old ford wheel nut and an old M14 bolt approximately the right length. weld a nipple on the end of the bolt,and fill in the end of the nut,with a pointed end you unwind the nut on the bolt and it forces both ball joints apart. HTH Andy >> Edited by andy390 on Wednesday 30th March 16:13

Hi Andy,

That sounds like a good idea, I have the bits needed knocking around the garage so I will have a go at making one as a more suitable tool for the future.

Thanks
Andy