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 Posted: Sep 3, 2014 01:25AM
jeg
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When the joint is spinning and you can't get the nut off, try placing a jack under the arm, use light pressure and lift it a tad.

The peasants are revolting...          

"Gone with the Wind" - a brief yet moving vignette concerning lactose intolerance

 Posted: Sep 2, 2014 09:51PM
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I tend to have the opposite problem where the nut comes off only so far, then the ball can rotate and the threaded bolt section with it.  So you're left with no way to get the nut the rest of the way off since the whole thing is turning.

 Posted: Sep 2, 2014 09:44AM
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I find it seems to help when i put a piece of scrap wood under the top arm (especially if the little rubber stop is missing) so you are not working against the weight of the hub assembly and when it breaks loose the lower arm clears the ball joint knuckle easier.

Tim you should have left the nut on the threads until it broke loose.

If in doubt, flat out. Colin Mc Rae MBE 1968-2007.

Give a car more power and it goes faster on the straights,
make a car lighter and it's faster everywhere. Colin Chapman.

 Posted: Sep 1, 2014 06:47PM
mur
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If a real SP tool is having trouble, go back to a pickle fork and go nuts with a hammer. Every now and again in life you will get one that is incredibly hard. If the fork does not work take it all apart and change the upper arm  and disassemble the joint from the inside out!

 Posted: Sep 1, 2014 06:42PM
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US

Pickle fork, grease the boots, and an air hammer. I've never had one give me trouble. If the air hammer doesn't do it, then one small blow from the 4lb. sledge finishes it every time. 

 Posted: Sep 1, 2014 10:45AM
 Edited:  Sep 1, 2014 07:36PM
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I put a 6 foot crow bar through the arm and under the subframe and get her ladyship to sit/lean on it. 

(Mine is quite cuddly as shown at left).

Then with two hammers, one either side, hit the taper joint hard from the sides simultaneously.

The idea is that the twin hits spring the joint oval for a milli-second and the pre-laoding makes it jump apart.

Car engines make CO2 and trees absorb CO2. By running your engine you're feeding a tree and helping the environment.

 Posted: Sep 1, 2014 07:47AM
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US

Jemal's video does look interesting. I suppose an air hammer can be found at Harbor Freight cheaply. Not sure how the wrench between the two arms works though when both arms are connected.

The splitter tool is the Sykes Pickavant version which looks even more robust than the one MM currenlty sells if the picture is accurate.

Eventually it yielded to a BFH under pressure from the tool. Ball joint threads are shot though

 Posted: Sep 1, 2014 07:44AM
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I've always used a pickle fork but I lather the dust boot with grease to prevent damaging it.

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. G.B.S. Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. Oscar Wilde

//www.cupcakecooper.ca/

 Posted: Aug 31, 2014 07:43PM
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Crazy, I had one ball joint give me more trouble than any car before. I didn't have the lever at the time though. Ever since buying that tool (and a squirt of PB a day before) I've never had a ball I can't split.

Good luck.

Mark Looman, Ada Michigan 1967 Austin Cooper S
 Posted: Aug 31, 2014 04:47PM
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US

I had one so stuck that I broke a splitter. the threads stripped right out of the casting.  I had to use a pickle fork with a BFH and beat the crap out of it. I thought I was gonna slip and ruin something or hurt myself by how hard I had to smack it. And I had to keep smacking it a while before it finally opened. Don't give up.

 Posted: Aug 31, 2014 03:22PM
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US

Which reminds me that it helps to take the front shock off.

 Posted: Aug 31, 2014 02:26PM
 Edited:  Aug 31, 2014 03:12PM
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US

Bloke on here has a good idea or two to try.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnPHp9iM6lg

The air hammer looks like a something to try.

 

"How can anything bigger be mini?"

 Posted: Aug 31, 2014 02:13PM
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US

SP tool? Are you using a pickle fork or a lever spliter like this: //www.minimania.com/part/07-035/Ball-Joint-Splitter-Lever

Oh, and is the car hydrolastic or dry? If hydro., remember to have the back of the car off of the ground as well as the front.

If your are using the splitter and the car is dry suspension and it is not coming apart, try to add pixie's hammer process with the splitter in place.

 Posted: Aug 31, 2014 12:52PM
 Edited:  Aug 31, 2014 12:53PM
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US

take two big hammers  put one   on the one  horizontal side of the tapered end  and hit the  other side hard  while the  pressure is on  , if not heat   even with propane  . 

 Posted: Aug 31, 2014 12:41PM
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I had to use a BIG hammer, but they finally released.  I thought I was going to break it or knock the car off it's jack, but they finally released!

 Posted: Aug 31, 2014 12:29PM
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US

Never had a ball jont not release when using the tool. My SP tool is bending before this one will release.

I have tried from front and from back and left it under pressure when I went in for lunch. Still no release. I would hate to have to try heat in those close quarters.

Any other suggestions?

Terry