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Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED 

 

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 Post subject: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 12:29 am 
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Hey guys

I was doing a routine spring/strut replacement on my ED XR8 Sprint yesterday, this is something ive done well over a dozen times on various e-series so never really planned on encountering any problems. Anyway I came to splitting the upper ball joint from the wishbone. it started to give me hassles but I have had a few stubborn ones in the past so worked away expecting to work it free. It just wouldn't budge, I tried all the usual methods and even soaked the thing in Penetrene but to no avail. I cracked the s**t and thought i'll pay a suspension workshop to do it as I was just fed up. So today i took it to a local suspension joint only to be told sorry buddy after 7 hours of their best efforts they couldnt split them either. So now I not only can I not get my ball joints free but they are now probably f**k aswell. How can I get these C*** off. I've tried belting the wishbone with hammers, knocking them with mallets (as you do to a tapered ball joint) ball joint seperators, you name it they ain't coming free. Any suggestions? Im getting pretty annoyed now

 

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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 9:02 am 
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if the ball joints are not stuffed you can still change the spring/shock by un bolting the upper arm from the body, no need to split the ball joint.

otherwise heat the joint thread and top arm up with a gas torch/oxy but you will probably need new ball joints after this..
im supprised the suspension shop didnt do this... after 7 hours they couldnt work out a way to them un done :roll: ..what were they doing? thinking about it??
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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 9:04 am 
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they just ripped you off 7 hours labour

 

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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 1:16 pm 
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Have you ever split the ball joint on this very car before? I have reason to believe it has been welded in.
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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 1:21 pm 
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Today I thought i'd make sure they didnn't wreck anything so I took a look and unfortunately they have made a mess of my wishbones. Lost a nut and replaced with what looks like a small wheel nut on the top of the ball joint. And the most annoying thing is they didnt mount my EGR solenoid back up and let it dangle which resulted in it getting melted and f**k up all over my EL GT headers. Very angry. On the positive note i managed to split one today

 

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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 3:39 pm 
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As Troy mentioned, you can undo the upper arm pivots, let the steering knuckle fall side out and remove the spring and strut tower. This is with the lower arm with no weight on it. You may need a lever to manipulate the bottom free - with lowered springs, easier still.

Normally, the upper joint will come free with a sharp hit on the stud with a heavy hammer - undo the nut and have it level with the stud top, just in case the top gets slightly mushroomed.
If you have to belt it numerous times, then most likely the ball joint should be replaced, as most likely it may get damaged.
Replacing the ball joints isn't difficult - I always thought you needed a press to do it properly, but you can do it without, but there is a certain way.
New ball joints seem to come with a castle nut (upper), and a nyloc (lower).

Got some pics of the damage they did ??

 

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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 4:30 pm 
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All I can say is, you, and the people you took it to, arent hitting it hard enough.

Gab
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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 6:40 pm 
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Ive cracked them now anyway, just persisted with it. As i said ive done heaps of these cars so it's not like I don't know what i'm doing. Im majorly p****d at the damage, im going to break their balls over it tomorrow

 

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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 6:53 pm 
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I also know how to take the wishbones out, but once the bj wouldnt come out I wanted them replaced, hence why I asked the question

 

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The Past: EF Fairmont, EL Fairmont 5.0, HR Special, NF Fairlane 5.0, GSX 250-F, BA II XR8, VS3 Ute, VS2 L67 Calais

The Present: FG Egas Ute, ED XR8 Sprint, GPZ 900R

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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 7:18 pm 
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snap0964 wrote:
Replacing the ball joints isn't difficult - I always thought you needed a press to do it properly, but you can do it without, but there is a certain way.


I'm all ears! :)

Mike

 

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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 9:59 pm 
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I put a 3 leg puller on it, wind a heap pressure on then give it light tap with a small hammer.
Nothing worse then seeing the damage done by just flogging the crap out of it.

What I can't work out is why you were doing that just to get the shock/spring assembly out?
Never had to do that before, Just undo the top and bottom of the assembly and remove it.
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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 10:22 pm 
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I think he is describing what he was doing wrong, to me it sounds like he couldnt get the shaft of the ball joint out of the strut no matter how hard he bashed it. I may be wrong though. besides, dont the balljoints go into the control arm from the underside?
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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 10:34 pm 
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V8 Ghia Mike wrote:
snap0964 wrote:
Replacing the ball joints isn't difficult - I always thought you needed a press to do it properly, but you can do it without, but there is a certain way.
I'm all ears! :)
So am I - put your thinking cap on and tell me. Remember obviously there should not be repeated impact on the ball stud. Be nice to see a thought out reply - but I doubt one will be coming.
Burns wrote:
Ive cracked them now anyway, just persisted with it. As i said ive done heaps of these cars so it's not like I don't know what i'm doing.
So tell us how you did it.

 

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97 EL Futura S/W: LPG, Alarm, LED int Lts, Trip Comp, F/Lane Dome Lt, Climate Ctrl, T5 Conversion

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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 11:52 pm 
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snap0964 wrote:
V8 Ghia Mike wrote:
snap0964 wrote:
Replacing the ball joints isn't difficult - I always thought you needed a press to do it properly, but you can do it without, but there is a certain way.
I'm all ears! :)
So am I - put your thinking cap on and tell me. Remember obviously there should not be repeated impact on the ball stud. Be nice to see a thought out reply - but I doubt one will be coming.


Excuse me? I haven't replaced those ball joints before and was hoping to hear your method of doing it without a press. Sorry for asking, forget about it.

Mike

 

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 Post subject: Re: Splitting Upper Ball Joint On ED
Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 2:17 am 
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V8 Ghia Mike wrote:
Excuse me? I haven't replaced those ball joints before and was hoping to hear your method of doing it without a press. Sorry for asking, forget about it.
You were asked to put together some of your own ideas - you'd rather whinge instead ??
There's been plenty written on here about installing/removing Ball Joints - most people though won't make the effort first by thoroughly searching to find their own answers.
This is a forum - harden up, a lot of people carry on on here like a prepubescent when they read stuff not to their liking.

 

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