Disconnecting Bottom Ball Joint

[Steve P]

Hi all,

have got to get access to the drivers side outer CV joint so that I can sort out the ABS ring.

 

Undid the two cap head bolts that hold the lower lower ball joint in place, tried to lever the lower arm down and hit the arm a few times with a hammer but the joint didn't seem to want to come away from the hub assembly. Also tried levering the hub up a bit with a scissor jack but that didn't help.

 

Is it just a case of a bigger hammer!

 

I don't want to part the balljoint from the lower arm as that will probably wreck the rubber!

 

Cheers

Steve

Edited July 1, 2008 by Steve P

[Mirez]

Lots of prying is all you can do, when I removed mine the two allen bolts didn't seem to be doing anything it was all held by 8 years of crud lol. Lots of leavering and prying with big drivers, WD40 and some gentle hammering and you may get them off in one piece - They are only circa

[sparky Paul]

I would leave the balljoint in the hub and release it from the bottom arm, but without using a splitter...

 

Unscrew the bottom nut several turns, but leave on to protect the threads and save knuckles when the joint splits. Insert a bar between the bottom arm and the chassis in such a way that you can exert downward pressure on the bottom arm. Push down hard, then hit the side of the bottom arm where the balljoint is fixed with a hammer until the joint splits, then remove the nut and balljoint from the arm. If you push down hard, it should only need moderate thumps to release it.

[Steve P]

Thanks Mirez -it's not the cost of a new balljoint it's the hassle of fetching a new from somewhere. Local motor factors only seem to stocky shiney steering wheels, smelly things and go faster stripes now days! And there's the risk I'll replace a perfectly good part with a cheap crappy item from China which will fail in less than a year.

 

Paul - thanks - I'll give it a go.

 

Steve

[Nomolos]

Personally if your trying to get the drive shaft out I would take the bolts out of the gear box end support the shaft with some rope and let it drop down to clear the gear box and slacken the cv bolt and hit the end of that and drive the shaft out from the joint!

 

Had to change the intermediate and stub axel on mine a couple of weeks back and came out quite easily, while your at it drop the intermediate shaft off (2 x bolts) and check the splines for grease it