Thread: Having a Ball Joint problem.

I'm replacing the lower ball joint on my G20, which is a pain in itself because it's essentially a double wishbone front.

I've loosened the crown nut as much as possible to get the spindle off of the lower control arm. It will not budge!! The spindle is very much stuck onto that bolt. Now, in every setup I've replaced the lower ball joint. You just take that nut off, the spindle lifts off the ball joint, then you can proceed to remove the ball joint.

In the picture, you can see the breaker bar in the middle. I'm basically using the weight of the car to separate the 2, but they are not coming apart. I've sprayed liquid wrenck all over the area, even let it sit over night.

Since the boot is already torn, maybe give a pickle fork a try.
Or J.C. Whitney has ball joint separator tools. I got one to release the steering rod end and it is a life saver. You might need something beefier from their catalog.

Maybe try tightening the nut a bit and see if you can get a pry bar between the nut and the axle and pry that way? If you have ABS try not to mar up those ridges in the process.

Edit: This is what I have, but it doesn't look like it would even fit on that ball joint, only on the steering rod end. =(
http://www.jcwhitney.com/TIE_ROD_END_REMOVAL_TOOL?ID=12;0;200001087+2000;0;100001;ProductName;0;0;0;0;2004158;0;0

i had the same problem yesterday when i was replacing mine.
put the car on the jackstand, then get the jack and jack up on the rotor. the control arm will naturally want to go up with the rotor, but when u think you have enough clearance, smack the control arm with a hammer, and it'll come down just enought to remove the bolt.

You could also jack up on the stub for the caliper mount if you don't want to jack up on the rotor. I'm sure you could figure that out though.

my vote goes to a BFH, slam the knuckle where the ball joint sits....


it's worked for me every time

Best way to do it. Put a cinder block under the control arm, lower the car down on it a bit, and whack away. Pulling the axle out of the spindle first helps out.

Yeah, I would pull the axle, and wack it. Its just a few extra bolts.

OK, I got it. I went out and rented a pickle fork. Interestingly enough, this one had an air hammer attachment, so I hooked it up to my air hammer and it took me about 2 minutes straight till it gave. I don't think any amount of whacking would've made a difference.

Anyway, I'm faced with a new issue. Getting the ball joint assembly out of the control arm. Once again, I've never dealt with one this tough.

pickle fork:

this is why I will always buy new control arms haha. To get the assembly out use a bfh and some heat and if that doesnt work try to use an air chisel

I believe a press is your friend when getting those ball joints out of the control arms. That's what I hear anyway. I've never done one.