dave123456789 Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 hey trying to remove the ball joints in my car to be sent away. cant separate them by using a hammer and dont want to damage by smashing it even harder. am in kingsland, auckland. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bling Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Tried a bigger hammer? Actually a serious question. Whenever i've had issues even after soaking in CRC I just resorted to a bigger hammer. Never smack the ball joint itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteretep Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 or put the nut back onto it and hit that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave123456789 Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 or put the nut back onto it and hit that? have already had the nut on there while smacking it. its soaking in crc at the moment. will go smash it harder i guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaN Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 I've got one. I'm in Kingsland too. Give me a ring (021 in a pm) you can either come pick it up, or I can bring the splitter and its friend (mr pickle fork) with me and drop over give you a hand. (I'd prefer to drop by and leave with them, I like my tools alot ) Another option would be to bring the parts to me and we can deal with at my place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldturkey Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 I bought a splitter for like $10 from ripco. I would never hit them with a hammer to seperate them again tbh. People really should learn that hitting them with a hammer isn't the correct way, more often then not you end up damaging the ball joint. But I guess you have to make do with what you got. The only advice I would have is to support the arm that the ball joint is set in with something solid as possible, like a brick or an axle stand. Any movement of the suspension arm is going to work against you. If you cant find a proper splitter, a pickle fork is almost as good. Or anything else you can find that resembles a pickle fork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durty Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Don't damage them at all if you use a nice meaty hammer and smack the side of the knuckle bit. Don't touch the ball joint at all. If that doesnt work then I use two hammers. Have only ever had to use a splitter once Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaN Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 yeah. I prefer that method too. the pickle fork damages the rubber seal and loads up the cir-clip something epic. The press-type remover works well, I have a few types of those, including a serious gear puller I've used before. Most of the time, I just put in my huge vice and get out a few different tools, and eventually just use the hammer method which I've gotten damn good at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaN Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 job done. easy work~ poor Dave was pretty sick, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bling Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 I bought a splitter for like $10 from ripco. I would never hit them with a hammer to seperate them again tbh.People really should learn that hitting them with a hammer isn't the correct way, more often then not you end up damaging the ball joint. But I guess you have to make do with what you got. Must be doing it wrong to damage the ball joint as you shouldn't touch it. Sledge hammer on one side of arm next to ball joint, smack other side of arm HARD and they pop out. The ones i've done have come out mint with no damage at all. The shock / impact just pops them out. Of course there is a correct tool, but I wouldn't touch anything with one of those forks unless you have a new ball joint going in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaN Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 the forks have there place, but I did Dave's by putting a small gear puller on it, turning it to press down a wee bit, so it had perhaps 30 pounds of pressure on it, maybe a bit more, but not enough to distort the thread at all, then I hit them with a pin hammer from the side. the two combined forces work perfectly to pop them out easily. I did hit each one with a ball pen hammer a couple of times first, and then the pin hammer, but only one popped out like that, the other three required the combination force effect. And, only one was actually subborn and took perhaps 50-60pounds downward force, and several hits light hits with the pin hammer. All the threads on the ball joints were un-damaged, only one ball joint was obviously needed replacing. I'd question if the other three even needed to come out to be honest. The other three seemed ok to me (but I didnt look closely). They all looked like the very old rebuildable kind, ADL Autoparts (129 Sunnybrae Road, Glenfield, Ph 09 444 1844) might be able to help, they once referred me to someone that can actually rebuild old ball joints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaN Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 ... probably would have beat the shit outta them with hammer if they were common parts, but spindles for a 69' prince gotta be hard to find so I went real easy on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bling Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Yeah that's fair enough too, to go easy on them. A puller would be the way to go for sure. Was more so referring to the $10 tool mentioned earlier that I can only assume is a fork. A puller kit is on my list of "tools to buy" as they are handy for all sorts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaN Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 oddly enough, I tend to get my best tools from odd places, like the salvation army shops, or some $10 auction on trademe, or someones garage sale, (or my father, he gave me quite a few good ones) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seedy Al Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 I only use a fork when I know I'm putting a new one on...... Always fuck the boots etc otherwise. However sometimes hitting with a hammer just wont cut it, BUT, adding some etxtra pressure to the arm etc does help, as does hitting in more than one place. Dont think I have ever damaged a ball joint with a hammer though, except when I was younger and failed at putting the nut on to stop damaging the thread with poor aim haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaN Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 we used Mr Pickle-fork to lock a steering ball joint so I could move the nut off (pays to remove Mr Nut before trying to free joint). I have a press tool specifically for that job (supercheap ?) .. works perfectly on some suspention ball joints too. I got dave to press down on Mr Pickle-Fork (gee that sounds dirty), so we could lock the released steering ball joint and be able to turn the nut on the thread (it was er .. stubborn). Worked fine, wasn't easy, team effort. Dave had a turn for the worst about there, so he headed inside to spend some time with Mr Shiny-White-Bowl, and I looked and the job and thought, .. I can do this in 30mins easy. So, I remove the right front hub (dave had done lefty), and set to the four ball joints. yeah, I've done the thread damaging thing too, the upright part of the ball joint that has the thread just deforms and it's nearly impossible to re-thread it after that Actually, thats why I do it that way, with the baby gear puller, maybe a halfway or full turn of pressure downwards on the ball joint, and the hits from the side. If it doesn't come free with a couple of hits and another half turn of pressure (worked on the stubborn one). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaN Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Oh Dave: when you read this, I'm at home all day each day, next week, happy to help you break down those hubs and sort out the brakes. No plans to work on the capri in that time frame so I have several large work spaces your hubs can sit on undisturbed waiting for new shoes, or relined shoes. Racebrakes (Daves like 100meters from my place, RB is like 300 meters) can reline your shoes pretty cheap, worth looking at. just a thought, .. dont have to take the offer up. I just figure finding replacement shoes would/could be a no go. and putting unfamiliar hubs back together is best done where they were taken apart in good clean workspace, and left alone until put back together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock-Lee Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Daves not here man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave123456789 Posted November 4, 2011 Author Share Posted November 4, 2011 Hey was sick as hell on friday, no idea what happened but got the job done. Cheers nigel no doubt will need help with other stuff in future. Keen as to pull the brakes apart as were always rather shit at stopping. I got your number so will sort something out for next week. I have every friday off. Time to send these things away to get fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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