Ball joint

[scubasteveo45]

I know this subject get bludgeond to death, and the answers probably lie somewhere in a past post, but I am coming down with the flu, can hardly stand up, and took 5 advil 10 minutes ago, so searching for the right answer in old posts isnt gonna happen. So today I got halfway through an axle swap before i couldn't stand it anymore. I got the nut off, and the pin out, and couldnt get the ball joint on the lower control arm to budge, sat there with a prybar for about 30 minutes harping on the thing before i gave up. I had taken out the pinch bolt and undid the stabalizer bar, tried my best to pry apart the part the pinch bolt was in. Can someone describe what I need to do to get the ball out, or one of your alternative methods. Still a novice subaru mechanic and any help would be great. Again sorry to the moderators for asking about such a talked about topic.

[monstaru]

do you have a broken flathead screwdriver around?i just put a fairly large broken flathead in the pinch bolt groove and pounded it in until it stopped,sprayed some pb blaste rup in there and let it soak,tapping ever so gently(yeah right)on the casing around the ball joint and then pryed it out........if you do not want to break one of your own screwdrivers,go buy a 1.99 deal at the parts store, they are easy to break , trust me......stick it in the formentioned slot and pry with it....it will break.the put in the slot and pound it in.it will stop and it should give you the room to get that booger out of there.

[Ross]

Sprey some penetrating oil around the joint and leave it overnight. How long prybar are you using? I use one about 1.5m long and its usually easy as.

[Skip]

Steve,

you ask

"Can someone describe what I need to do to get the ball out,

or one of your alternative methods."

 

I never take the ball joint apart when doing an axle R&R

for the exact reason you made this post.

 

alternatively

 

I remove the one bolt that connects the lower control arm to the frame.

 

The sway bar mount and the brake line clamp are easy offs.

 

I feel this is much easier than messin' with the B-J

 

Hope you feel better and that this works for you.

[dragonwingsubaru]

just did both of mine the other day, took no effort on my parts car but on my 85 i had to do the before mentioned beating a screwdriver into the pinch part, and then i took my regular soob tire-iron and stuck it between the lower arm and the knuckle and did some wedgeing with it to get it moving a little then stuck my head in the wheelwell area and used my hydro jack handle to push downward with a little brute force, and i was done. gonna have to do it again this weekend i think im gonna nab my good control arms and balljoints off my parts car and put them on the 85. oh and btw mine had been sitting for quite a while and had a bit of rust on them from sitting, and i didnt use any penetrateing oil since i couldnt figure out where the hell i put it last lol

[djcracker]

I just did this yesterday. go to the parts store and get yourself a pickle bar. cost $10.00. Good for getting tie rod apart too. Looks like a big two prong fork.

Wedge it in there ang get big hammer.

[snowstormer]

do like skip sez-

 

 

its the fastest easiest way. you do not have to even touch the ball joint.

 

just read the steps-

 

one bolt that attaches the lower control arm to the crossmember or subframe, whatever you want to call it.

 

sway bar

 

brake cable

 

drive pin out from doj by the tranny

 

pull out on the bottom of the tire- you dont even have to take off the tire if you dont wanna!

 

when you pull out on the bottom of the tire -you will have just enough room to get the axle off the tranny stub.

 

then you go from there.

[MilesFox]

here is my preferred method, it would be tha smame procedure as using the pickle fork but without one, and its less to unbolt thant the lower control arm disconnect, plus it gives more room to move things out of the way

 

what i do is removet he nut from the ball joint stud, and plae a hydralic jack against the stud so the jack loads up the suspension by the stud only.

 

then what you do is shock the tension loosel as you would tapping on the dise of a tie rod to pop it out. with teh suspension loaded up the lower control arm will have downward tension from the sway bar. tap around the lower control arm closest to the ball joint with a good sized hammer. the dead blows will break the tension and the lower control arm will pull away.

 

now woth it loose you will have to push down on the lower control arm to get the stud to come out of its hole, i find iy best to use a long bar or pipe across the top of the lower control arm between the axle, wedge it up near the radius rod on the fram, and push down on it with my knee to move the lower control arm down enough to get the ball joint out. also i do this to put it back together

 

i find this easier than the lower control arm disconnect, but it take some tehnique it may take a few attempts to do this effectively, but once you get it apart you will have developed the technique already

[scubasteveo45]

problem solved, thanks guys