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Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL. 

 

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 Post subject: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 6:23 pm 
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Hi all,

In line with taking my car over the pits as a manual before putting the charger in, I have sourced and bought the following:

* Tie rod ends, tie rods, new boots.
* Top and bottom ball joints.
* Kmac camber kit.
* Gabriel ultra stuts
* new bushes.
* 6 ton bench press. (on special for 99 bucks at supercrap.)

I have spare knuckles here from another Ghia and I've been trying to get the ball joints out. hammering is doing nothing but flowering the backs of them... and the knuckle is such a retarded shape that I can't get it under the press...

Is there a trick for doing this?

I emailed midas, pedders and a couple of others and they either didn't reply or they tried to sell me ready pressed knuckles for 250ish a pop.

It seems to me that something like a giant G clamp would be better than the press.. but I'm hoping someone has a trick for this.

cheers

Frank
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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 6:32 pm 
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6 Tonne wont do it.
When we had one of ours done once it took 25 tonne to pop them out.
You need the special adaptor tools to press them out.
Take the arms and balljoints to your local suspension joint and get them to do it.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 6:43 pm 
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i dont know why a hammer wouldnt move them. I work at a suspension shop and all we do is pop the cir-clip off then bash them out with a hammer. then to push them in we have a tool that hold the ball joints then press the hubs onto the ball joints if you get what i mean

 

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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 7:21 pm 
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If a six ton press can't get them out I have trouble with the idea that hammering it will work. Besides I hammered on these for ages with no progress noticeable. I miss the old XC design... all you needed was a socket set to get the back of them off. :-(
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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 7:40 pm 
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61xkwagon wrote:
i dont know why a hammer wouldnt move them. I work at a suspension shop and all we do is pop the cir-clip off then bash them out with a hammer. then to push them in we have a tool that hold the ball joints then press the hubs onto the ball joints if you get what i mean


Yeah, ball joints can flogged out with a hammer, BUT, the bushes won't, they take some gettin out.
Although, the upper & lower BJ's on an AU can be quite hard to get out.
Ford had a recall on the lower arms/BJ's once.....the holes in the lower arms weren't machined to the correct size, and when the machine pressed the BJ's in, they cracked the arms.
You can ring a Ford dealership and ask about that problem.....they should help you out.....should.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 7:41 pm 
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61xkwagon wrote:
i dont know why a hammer wouldnt move them. I work at a suspension shop and all we do is pop the cir-clip off then bash them out with a hammer. then to push them in we have a tool that hold the ball joints then press the hubs onto the ball joints if you get what i mean

+1 use the ball on the hammer,high impact,3-5 hits if your lucky

 

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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 9:43 pm 
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frankieh wrote:
I have trouble with the idea that hammering it will work. Besides I hammered on these for ages with no progress noticeable.(
What size hammer are you using ???
You'll need something a big bigger than your std 2 pounder, plus a selection of water pipe sizes is handy too.
I remember calling into Suzukisuper(Ebay CV joints Aust), and with one of their mechanics Yuri, knocking a lower out, and knocking the new one in in about 15mins. We used a sledgehammer would you believe - careful hits and appropriate support is all it needs. Be lax and damage is easy.

Key things are to have a solid floor - concrete is good, support the arm properly with your water pipe - use a grinder to shape it if need be. Use a solid short drift on the back of the ball joint to stop it mushrooming. If it's not budging, pool some WD40, rostoff, etc so it soaks down the splines.

Take a bit off the splines of the new one with a grinding wheel - be careful, measure the arm hole and the ball joint with a vernier. Knock the ball joint in - make sure the pipe is sitting on the ball joint collar - not the stud itself.

You'll need to have the BJ boots off, so smear some grease around the joint so you can clean it off after you've finished - keeps rubbish out. Then pack the joints with some HT/EP moly grease before putting the boots on - not too much, or the boot will split eventually.

The uppers are a bit harder to get out - you'll need a long drift, wrap some rag around it to protect the bearing spindle, as it'll be close by.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 9:57 pm 
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As we now have 4 ED's between my brothers and my old man we bought the tool...

http://www.ggtechnics.com.au/products/g ... installer/

Got it off maybe Burson's was the cheapest? Worth it's weight in gold and paid for itself over and over... My old man works for Ford and this is better than the Ford issued tool for doing them...

Still requires a short drift as shorts depending on the press ram cross section... But works great none the less... I've heard these bang out on a press... I'd struggle to believe a hammer would get them out... Unless like snap said, lots of WD-40 and a sledgy...

Cheers,
Tim

 

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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 10:03 pm 
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I wasn't using a sledgy... obviously I should have been.

I did try a 15 minute tool fab using my steering wheel puller as a base, but it was starting to flex so I stopped before snapping it.

Image

Welding galvanised threaded steel is fun isn't it? ( I made sure not to breath it.)

didn't work, but the idea was feasible.. more solid construction and it probably would have... :-(

Last edited by frankieh on Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:06 am 
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frankieh wrote:
I wasn't using a sledgy... obviously I should have been.
Well I actually use a smaller handled hammer - the head size is probably half the weight of a sledgy, but with moderate hits, it does the job.
And that's the thing - you shouldn't have to lay into it - creates more of a chance of butchering it.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:33 am 
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I must admit I am leaning towards getting an engineering firm or something like it.. I don't like bashing anything structural that hard... will call around and see,,, if the price isn't to bad.
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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:19 pm 
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Another key thing is to have a decent set of safety specs, and when your making up something, if it looks like it will give or break, don't persist.

By all means, if you're not confident, or nothing's working, go access a decent press and get it done.
Nothing worse than butchering a job, and ending up worse than what you started.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:44 pm 
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agreed... I have gotten paranoid about safety since my father died in a car crash mid June. He was the safest driver I'd ever met and if he can die senselessly in an accident, anyone can.

I think the only part of my tool that wasn't strong enough was the steering wheel puller. If I replaced that with a 12mm steel plate, I could tighten the side nuts and I'm almost certain it would work.

However, the effort of doing so is probably not worth it when it's probably only 50-80 to have someone do it for you.

I'd persist anyway just because I'm stuborn.. but I'd then have to reverse the process and try to get the new ones in without damaging them.
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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:31 pm 
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pedders pushed mine out and put new ones in for $80 . piece of piss

 

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 Post subject: Re: Pressing out/in ball joints in an EL.
Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 3:21 pm 
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Just cos I'm stubborn I kept at it and got the two top joints out. Basically I left the pipe adaptor on... put it on the concrete and hammered the top.. with the tension of the adaptor it only took five or six hits. Don't think I'll get the bottom ones that way so I'll pay to have the rest done. Just wanted to do it at least once.
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