Good result, a real winner this time. Shame you had the extra expense of the compressor but you'll find it very useful in future.

 

Lol, that's allot of money spent. I haven't had one yet where I had to use a fork and I change them all the time.

 

Yes, and unrelated to these beast...with their steel ball joint mounting areas on the axle. If you ever decide to use a pickle fork on a vehicle with aluminum a-arms/control-arms/etc...be warned...you start driving that pickle fork...between the ball joint an aluminum mounting area...and you'll be replacing more than you bargined for. Because, 9.9 times out of 10...you'll end up destroying the area that holds the ball-joint in place on the aluminum a-arm.

Use the ball-joint remover tool that pushes on the stud of the ball-joint, when any of the components are aluminum...or use the hammer method.

Another thing to look out for on any ball-joint removal job (when using pickle fork, regardless of metal type), is to always make sure you look over the surfaces of the mounting area for the ball-joint stud. If there are any defects, such as sharp metal spurs, gouges or such...these rough areas will probably tear the ball-joint boot when articulating the steering from side to side...and you will be doing this fun job all over again...sooner than you think.

Brian.

 

damn!

Hardest one I ever tackled wasnt a ball joint, but a King bolt that held a radius arm to an I-beam. Had to remove both parts, square em up on a block of wood, and lumberjack swing a 12lb sledge at it. When it finally let go, it was bent about 15% and was mushroomed to about 1.5" in diameter.

that 3/4" bolt was the nearest I ever got to burning a vehicle to the ground lol.

 

THIS, is why I plan to pay a shop to do the ball joints on my truck if and when they need to be done.

And to that point, the rubber ball joint boots on my truck have been gone for years but it oddly doesn't seem to be a problem. My favorite, local Rovers-only shop says they've seen trucks go indefinitely in that condition. I check for play on a regular basis but so far, so good.

On the other hand I already have a compressor that was given to me and Harbor Freight sells a $9.99 air hammer. Huggi said it took 20 seconds. Four ball joints = 80 seconds. Even a Harbor Freight air hammer ought to last that long ...

 

It's really not that bad. These horror stories are rare occurrences. I've never needed a fork for a ball joint.

as far as the HF tools go, it's hard to mess up an air hammer lol.

Oddly enough I've got original 220,000 ball joints in my disco and they have zero play that I can detect. I think less pivoting than an IFS leads to longer Service life.