Separating LCA ball joint/tie rod from knuckle - medieval style

I've read a lot of posts on here about people having issues separating the LCA ball joint from the steering knuckle, and figured I'd toss in another idea for those who aren't having luck with the Pitman puller or *cough* pickle fork method.

 

These are the only two tools I use to separate my control arms/tie rods from the knuckle. A little unorthodox but it has never taken me more than 15 minutes per side and if you're careful you can avoid damaging the ball joint boot.

 

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Bull Pin & hammer

 

I don't have pics of the process but if you look behind the knuckle it will be pretty self explanatory.

 

You want to plant the small tip of the Bull Pin (facing toward the rear) on top of the control arm near the ball joint and under the lip where the pinch bolt goes through the knuckle - parallel to the ground. Hit the broad side of the pin a few times to wedge it in and once it's about 70% through the ball joint should separate enough to pop right out of the spindle. If not, tap the pin out and repeat from the other side, small tip facing front. I've never had to repeat this more than once and I've worked on some seriously rusty suspensions. On the Legacy there is enough of a lip under the pinch bolt that I think you can avoid rubbing against the bj boot altogether. I didn't care and barely tore into it, so I know it can be done.

 

I left the castle nut on since I was upgrading to the Whiteline kit, but if you take it off you'll still get the control arm without the joint.

 

If your tie rods are stuck in the knuckle, flip the Bull Pin broad side facing down onto the top of the ball joint stud and give the narrow end few good taps. The weight of the solid steel is enough to push it out with minimal force.

 

Basically you're using a couple slow deliberate hits which are then concentrated by the density and shape of the Bull Pin. The impact is localized so it does not vibrate your entire suspension either. Simple but effective.

 

*edit* thanks wsmith for finding the 'proper' name for this tool - it is a Bull Pin.

Measurements are about 1.5" at its largest diameter and tapers down to .3", apprx 1' long and is made of a very dense solid steel.

 

Might not be for some, but this method has saved myself and friends of mine a lot of time and frustration in a job that more times than not is a royal pain in the ass. If you can find one I would highly recommend using it.

It's just a big ass punch, looks like it's custom made from some 2" dia. tool steel.

It's just a big ass punch, looks like it's custom made from some 2" dia. tool steel.

 

well yea I call it a punch, but can't find anything similar when I google different variations of 'steel punch'. guess I was looking for something people could search on to find one. I've seen these before so I do know they can be bought...

Its a bull pin. It is used when connecting steel to allign your holes.

Thanks for the info. i'll be doing this in a week or so, I'll give that a try.

Its a bull pin. It is used when connecting steel to allign your holes.

 

we have a winner!!

found a bunch of links searching on Bull Pin, thanks bud. This one's a bit smaller than the one I use but should get the job done.

I work on cell phone towers and we use them when we stack the towers. Say you have a flange with 6 holes and none of them line up, you beat in the bull pin and it should align a hole or 2 so you can get some bolts in and work your way around. Same with steel structures, some big girters have say 20-50 bolt flanges. So you stick the bull pin then start putitng/working your bolts in.

Best tool for the purpose is air hammer.

 

Tip - when you install new ball joint cover it with anti-seize. Next time you need to remove it will come out easily by hand.

Best tool for the purpose is air hammer.

 

Tip - when you install new ball joint cover it with anti-seize. Next time you need to remove it will come out easily by hand.

 

I have an an air hammer and I don't even bother using it for this job. By the time you get your compressor set up I will have the arm out:lol: To each his own, though.

 

Not many have access to an air hammer/compressor though, and I would rate this method as far more effective than a puller or pickle fork.

 

+1 on the anti-seize.

I have an an air hammer and I don't even bother using it for this job. By the time you get your compressor set up I will have the arm out:lol: To each his own, though.

 

Not many have access to an air hammer/compressor though, and I would rate this method as far more effective than a puller or pickle fork.

 

+1 on the anti-seize.

 

I call bs By the time you got around to the ball joints without air compressor and impact gun for the bolts I'd be done with the job!

Looks like it's time for a ball joint-off... errr... ball-off joint? BJ-off?

 

 

Seriously though, thanks for the idea... I struggled with my ball joints last time and this was exactly the kind of tool that would have helped.

I work on cell phone towers and we use them when we stack the towers. Say you have a flange with 6 holes and none of them line up, you beat in the bull pin and it should align a hole or 2 so you can get some bolts in and work your way around. Same with steel structures, some big girters have say 20-50 bolt flanges. So you stick the bull pin then start putitng/working your bolts in.

 

Now that you mention it I remember the guy who gave it to me said he used them for aligning bridge sections that were suspended by cranes. Good info.

I call bs By the time you got around to the ball joints without air compressor and impact gun for the bolts I'd be done with the job!

 

sounds like a challenge! Who's up for the first annual LCA Removal time trials?

Can I be a judge? Free 5 quarts of synthetic to the fastest removal with least damage!

The bull pin method seems like a good technique.

 

Has anyone tried it with spec B aluminum lower control arms? I don't want to damage the aluminum by wedging against it, although the bull pin is a relatively smooth, rounded wedge.

Executor45 and I got crazy on one ball joint that was so corroded it took denting the crap out of the top of the ball joint before it came out. The other ball joint just fell out after splitting the knuckle, so it may have been a freak thing. I will not miss the salty NE roads. We used a half dozen different punches, working up the size ladder.

Thanks sooooo much to the OP for this post. I needed to change out the half shaft, and I COULD NOT get the ball joint out! I tried everything under the sun that I could think of and then some.

 

I live in NJ, so there was plenty of rust and corrosion on the bolts, and my car has about 117,000 miles. I knew there would be a struggle, but I had no idea that it would be a four day war!

 

Then I saw your post, read it a few times to make sure I understood your method, and thought about how to do it with what I had. I do have a bull pin, but a smaller one than yours, so I used a wood splitting wedge. It took a few passes through to get the wedge to stay at the right angle and not to pop out while I was hammering away, but it did work. One note about using the wedge... you can only really use it from the front unless you remove the brake caliper because there is really not enough room for the wedge.

 

The last pic is the one of the ball joint after it was out.

Holy corrosion batman!

wait you managed to get the pinch bolts out without breaking them? Both of mine broke last week. Waiting on new knuckles

wait you managed to get the pinch bolts out without breaking them? Both of mine broke last week. Waiting on new knuckles

 

You broke the bolts that go thru the top of the knuckle, or the knuckle itself and the bolts? Also, out of curiosity, what were you doing that required taking both sides apart? Upgrades, repairs, etc?

 

Overall, for me, the two hardest parts of doing the half-shaft job were getting the knuckle bolt out (a bit of a pain), and getting the ball joint out (really, really really hard)

You broke the bolts that go thru the top of the knuckle, or the knuckle itself and the bolts? Also, out of curiosity, what were you doing that required taking both sides apart? Upgrades, repairs, etc?

 

Overall, for me, the two hardest parts of doing the half-shaft job were getting the knuckle bolt out (a bit of a pain), and getting the ball joint out (really, really really hard)

 

 

i broke the bolts that hold the bolt joint in place, the one that went thru that hole that you have in your pictures. I did not break the knuckles but i cannot have the downtime to have the knuckles sent to a shop and have the bolts extracted.

I wanted to install the whiteline roll center kit on my car since the passenger side balljoint is having some serious play.

I broke the pinch bolt, too. Soaked it in several applications of sili-kroil for a day and destroyed many easy-outs trying to remove what was left. Never came out

Thanks sooooo much to the OP for this post. I needed to change out the half shaft, and I COULD NOT get the ball joint out!

 

You can pull the half shaft without taking the ball joint out of the arm

well yea I call it a punch' date=' but can't find anything similar when I google different variations of 'steel punch'. guess I was looking for something people could search on to find one. I've seen these before so I do know they can be bought...[/quote']

 

Klein bull pins ( #3255 and #3256) are available from homedepot.com and at Amazon

The ball joint pinch bolts were broken on an extra (backup) set of knuckles I had bought, so I clamped each knuckle in a mill, ran a carbide mill that was the correct diameter through it to remove the broken stub and then milled a flat surface on the opposite (threaded) side exactly like the bolt head side. I now just use Grade 8 through bolts with nylock nuts on them. I put stock new BJ in these knuckles as I was putting a Superpro RCA kit on the car and went ahead and used the original knuckles. Now the bolts are easy to remove if I ever need to. Remember that once you DO get the BJ out, anti seize is your friend forever on these.

 

The way to remove the pinch bolts without breaking them, which I did on my OE ones, is to heat the knuckle red around the threaded end of the bolt, NOT the bolt and NOT flowing red, but just red, and then quench it with water. Loosens them right up and they come out fairly easily. Use a M12x1.25 die on the bolts and run a M12x1.25 tap through the holes and anti seize them too when you reassemble.