Hi! I'm caught up with a head gasket job currently, and while I have the car up, I'm considering replacing the lower control arm ball joints and the outer tie rod ends. I already have the parts, I had seen the boots were cracked several weeks ago and ordered of Amayama. To separate the ball joints and tie rod ends, what tools do you all recommend, and what size? Thanks very much!
Special tool tools needed called The Big mofo hammer he want a dead blow hammer not an iron thing You're hitting on aluminum All you do is blast the bolt off and then if you're that type put it on two turns by hand now smack on the knuckle if that's the right term that's the part that the nut is pulling the ball joint through You're not going to break it 1 2 3 smacks and now the nut and the thread should drop down unscrew the nut the ball joint tie rod whatever it is falls down That's the tie rod for the ball joints it's a little trickier You need to undo the two bolts in the nut facing the ground going through the control arm You're going to need to more or less get the hub off and down on the ground see the extreme angle you've got to get your impact to undo the nut on the ball joint this is the lower ball joint once that's done it's not saveable so you can just smack the stud with your hammer bam and it pops right out of the round eyelet that it's squeezed into when the nut draws up the taper You look at it you'll see what's going on The tapers and all that can only go back in that eye one way so if you try to put them down and put the nut on the bottom they won't even go etc. Trying to get the ball joint off the lower one with the hub on the car will prove to be very tricky usually I blast the nut off of the CV axle the three on the control arm ball joint to control arm and the two big nuts that hold the hub to the strut and then it just pulls forward.
I usually don't have much luck using that on a ball joint; tie rod end - OK. A large hammer and pickle fork usually does the trick. Hopefully they don't salt the roads where you drive. You can rent/borrow both from a large chain auto parts store. At least around here you can. Hope this helps....
I've got one of those tools that looks sort of like a claw. I remember it worked for my case, but I don't remember being all that impressed. I think you might get more force using one that looks more like a C-Clamp. If you can protect the other parts of the car, I'd also try a MAP gas torch to heat up the part you're separating the ball joint from. Especially if you're going to be replacing the ball joint.
