Ball Joint Nut Removal

[frogers911]

I dont want to have to dremel these nuts off. Anyone have the Ball Joint Wrench Socket that they could spare for a day or so?
Thanks

[Jim Richards]

frogers, that tool really doesn't work well for removing the old nut. It's more useful for installing the new nut. When I replaced ball joints, I soaked the bal joint nuts in PB blaster for a while, then I used a hammer and a blunt chisel in the slots of the nuts to remove them. This was done with the a-arms on the bench.

[frogers911]

Thanks for the quick reply. I have soaked them with liquid wrench and WD-40 and taken more then a handful of swings at them with a hammer and chisel. I have them on a vise on my bench so I getting a good whack on them. They wont budge. I figured I'd try the tool out before I cut them off.

[Jase007]

How about a little heat...

Jase

[Trak Ratt]

soaked them with liquid wrench and WD-40 and taken more then a handful of swings at them with a hammer and chisel.


I was going to offer mine until I read that. Jim’s right, the “socket” will self destruct if they are on that tight! Cut the old ones off, then barrow my “socket" to put the new ones on.

[Charlie Stylianos]

Frogers,

I have the tool for lend ONLY for nut installation as trying to remove the nut with the tool will lead to tool damage. Prior to leaving for Texas, Jamie was nice enough to fix the tool for me so she's in nice shape again. PM me if interested.

Dremel to slit the nut and a chisel to split it is probably the best/easiest method. BTW: A chisel in one of the teeth and a mini sledge will provide A LOT more instantaneous removal torque than the tool.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone-
I am going to give them one more shot with heat (I didnt have a torch over the weekend) and then cut them off if that fails. I may need to borrow the tool for the install if thats ok, I will get in touch.

[Parenn911]

Frogers, let me know if you need some help, I live right down Great Seneca !

[frogers911]

Thanks for the offer Pari I may take you up on that. Hopefully I will have new ball joints on this week and be reassembling everything this weekend. Where on great senca? I am at 28 and muddy branch.

[Parenn911]

I'm at Longdraft Rd. and Great Seneca. Let me know when you plan on getting to work this weekend, I'll stop by. You live like 5 minutes from me.

[William Miller]

Maybe 10 from me until they finish 28.
Yell if you need something!

[Vicegrip]

HEAT! It has worked 100% of the time for me. A $5 plumbers torch is just the ticket.

Heat them up all the way around and heat them some more. About 3 min or so. Then take a DULL cold chisel (I have one that I rounded off on purpose) and a heavy ball peen hammer and drive the nut off. Hold the chisel at and angle so all the striking energy is delivered flat to the nut. This will work if you have some patience. You might need to heat and reheat before the nut comes loose. Pipe wrenches have a way of distorting the nut and making it grab rather than loosening and a sharp chisel will just cut the edges of the nut off.

PB blaster and liquid wrench make a mess and take much time to really work if at all.

[frogers911]

After a few heat cycles I was able to get both nuts off. They are a little chipped and dented but I can reuse them, thanks for the help. Now on to the pins in the strut housings.
-FR

[Jim Richards]

frogers, my advice is to replace all these bits with new ones. It'll make the next time that much easier and it's more likely that you won't have surprises in the near future. When I did my ball joints, I replaced the nuts, cotter pins, washers with the tabs to lock them down, and the tapered bolts that hold the a-arms to the struts. Just my $0.02.

[Justin Fischer]

This won't help much since you're done :roll: (sorry)..... To get my nuts off when nothing else would work (leave it alone guys). I bought a 1/2 ton, 4wd bearing socket from Advanced Auto. It was $10 and even though it was not a perfect fit, it was good enough on an impact wrench to do the job. I never tried heat, but I tried everything else listed above, as well as the socket on a regular wrench with a cheater bar.

-Justin

[William Miller]

What size was the socket?

[Justin Fischer]

The socket did not have a size listed on it or the packaging, it just said 1/2ton 4wd bearing socket, but it had 4 recessed tabs and it appeared to be close in size so I took a chance. It was at Advanced Auto in the tools section near the oversized (34mm/36mm) impact sockets.

Next time I'm there I'll see if I can find a part number for it.

-Justin

[Justin Fischer]

I found a pic of the 4WD bearing locknut socket which I used to remove my balljoints:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads2/bearingsocket1080313298.jpg

-Justin

[William Miller]

Thanks! I picked one up this weekend so if anyone needs it.