Front suspension

[The devil]

Well, started taking the front suspension apart to change ball joints and give it a lick of paint.
I managed to get the upper ball joint nut off by putting pressure between the block and the rod, otherwise the ball joint spins, is there a proper way of stopping it spinning. It looks like it screws into the block, is that correct.

Now, the lower joint, I have got the awkward nut off inside ready to drop the ball joint down, how the f*** do you get that bolt free, I have sprayed it with WD40 and will leave it till tomorrow but it looks very well stuck in there.

Andy

[daddysumo]

You need to put the nut partially back on, so you dont damage the thread if you want to reuse the balljoint, and use a ball joint splitter to push it out of the hub. The best one I found is the pivoted type which has 2 prongs which go between the hub and the ball joint the other single prong which is pivoted and goes on the nut,using a bolt to force the two apart which splits the hub from the ball joint.

Hard to describe the splitter.

Steve

[Jim O.]

The stud sticking out of the ball joint is a taper, so it won't just fall free. Several ways to break it loose. The way that I do it is to put the nut back on a few turns (so that the upright doesn't come crashing off when the joint comes loose, and so the punch tip stays centered on the stud), use a pry bar to raise up and hold the upright so the control arm can move down out of the upright, then hit the top of the stud with an air hammer using a tapered punch tip. If you don't have an air hammer, you can probably do it with a hammer and a tapered punch, but you'll need another pair of hands. You can also use a pickle fork between the upright and the control arm. It will probably tear the ball joint boot, but that doesn't matter since you're replacing the ball joint. It may also mar the bottom of the upright.

[BobE]

Have a look here regarding the separation of the ball joint:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...