I've had a growing issue with my Disco 2 binding when recovering from a left hand turn. Replaced the Tie Rod and Drag Link, which reduced the problem, but it would still bind, on occasion. Discovered all four ball joint boots were shot. Decided that would be the next potential problem to eliminate. Went ahead and am also replacing the CV Joint/axle assembly,, left and right. HOWEVER ... I'm a little stuck. I've got everything off, except the ball joints. I'm stuck on the lower ball joint. See the images below. In the diagram, the second piece up from the bottom. Do I have to remove that? Or is it just a hollow tube that the threaded part of the ball joint passes through? I now see that it is probably a left handed thread. It sure as heck isn't moving "Lefty Loosy". At this point do I just get in there with my ball joint "Tuning Fork" removal tool and bang away until they come loose?

 

 

 

I'd like to know also as I'm going to tackle replacing the ball joints soon.

 

That doesn't look like a left-hand thread to me.

 

I just read something that referred to that piece as a height-adjustable-collet. That being said ... I'll leave it alone, for now.

 

Holy Guacamole, was that a battle!
Finally succeeded in getting down to the ball joints. The bottom is complete slop. Hopefully that's been contributing to my binding stearing. As for what it took to get there ... The top ball joint was lightly challenging to break loose. Maybe 50 whacks with a pickle fork and 5 lb hammer. The bottom ball joint took half a tank of propane, a bottle of spray lube and close to a thousand taps before it finally broke loose. Below are a couple of images of the collet I mentioned earlier. Don't mess with it. Leave it alone. Accept before you begin that it will take a lot of hard work to get it off.




Exterior of collet from the bottom.



Interior of collet

 

yeah that is one TERRIBLE JOB i just did that however with the OTC set i borrowed and rented the master set at our local speed shop... none.. I repeat NONE fit the bottom ball joint to press it back in... i bent the lip on one and had to scrap it ( all-makes, looked aluminum!) then went to land rover and got a nice hardened steel one ( TRW or Moog i think) .. 45 bucks, when installing I noticed i had no cup that fit at all , they were way to close to the lip overhanging... so i removed the ball joint rubber gromet and one of the cups in the OTC kit fit PERFCT! ball joint went right in! then just reassembled the ball joint making sure I did not get any grease contamination in the process... JOB DONE! just thought Id put that in there for anyone struggling with this job...

 

this doesnt mean you can get away with this job with only the OTC kit lol but there is one in there that does work once removing that gromet...