evening . im going to be replaceing all my ball joints soon . and was wondering if there is a home brew method of getting the old ones out ? Not goint to be a problem getting the new ones in as a mate of mine has a specialized bit of kit for putting them in , but needs them out 1st . Or is it a case of having to take them somewhere to get them pressed out ? obvioulsy dont matter if they get trashed on removal ! Thanks
What kit has your mate got? I have a tool for T4 ball joints which pushes the new ones in great and if you grind the flange off the old ones it will press them out as well.
not too sure what kit he has , but he fitted his ball joints with it , but recons if they have been in there for ever and a day it may struggle to get the old ones out ?
yeah !!! it would be nice to have every bit of kit at your finger tips oh and a garage would be nice im gonna ring round a few of the local places and see if any of them have got a press to shove them out ! thanks
You'll struggle... you're gonna need a 50 ton press to get those blighters out.... easiest way to get them out (without breaking your arm) is to grind the back off the ball joint, knock out the pivot pin, then get a hacksaw through the middle, and cut through the side of the joint, allowing the joint to release inside the arm.... you just knock it out with a hammer then!! if that makes sense??
a 20 ton press is the minimum your likely to get away with, its not just about brute force a bit of tapping in the right place makes all the difference when pressing them out and a bit of lube on the way back in. most garages will have a 20 ton press, 50 ton will probably need a trip to a small engineering firm or a commercial garage
A cautionary tale... Just done mine and replaced with Meyle BJ's. These are made 0.5mm oversize to compensate for wear in the trailing arm of an average old bus caused by repeated fitting of new BJ's. However mine came from the states where they don't do an MOT like ours and judging from the 1/4 turn free play in the steering it hadn't had a lot of mechanical looking after. The joints got squashed because the hole wasn't worn like most, causing the steering to be too stiff and driving it in a straight line is now a nightmare. I'm going to have to find some cheaper BJ's or some old trailing arms. I've done 3-400 miles in the hope they'd loosen up, but no joy. It's so bad, the last time I drove it was a month ago. Heat is fine to get them out, but don't heat anything when re-fitting. The Meyle ones at least have nylon inside them, though I don't know about other makes.
duely noted ! have already got new joints comeing and dare i say it meyle ones ! but they are going in a british bus beam so think its just gonna be fingers crossed :
