I have been trying for three days to replace the front ball joints on my wife's car. I have no problem getting the caliper, brake line, rotor, tie rod end, drive shaft and strut removed, but that darn ball joint refuses to cooperate.
I have tried everything from a two-jaw puller to a BFH. Failure.
Someone told me today that it is impossible to remove the OEM balljoints from the control arm. Is this true?
And, even if I have to replace the whole control arm,then how do I get the upper portion of the ball joint out of the hub assembly.
Please help me solve this problem so she doesn't have to drive my 96 F150 to work anymore. Thanks in advance.

Chris

On earlier Taurii, yes, the ball joint was an integral part of the lower control arm. However, in 1996 Ford went to a different control arm setup, and the ball joint is pressed into the steering knuckle. You can replace the entire knuckle with a new one (includes hub, bearings, and ball joint) or can replace the ball joint by itself.

I suspect the difficulty you are having is mostly due to having the knuckle loose from the strut. When using the pickle fork the knuckle is able to flop around so all of the energy is not going towards wedging the ball joint loose from the control arm.

You may want to loosly set the knuckle back onto the strut and use a pickle fork.

You have removed the nut from the bottom of the ball joint, right?

-Rod

Yes, I have removed the nut from the bottom of the ball joint. My problem is with the ball joint coming out of the control arm. I initially tried the pickle fork before removing the strut, but it still wouldn't budge. I've even managed to get two pickle forks in between the control arm and hub assembly to the point where they were as far as they could go. Still nothing. Next I'm gonna try an air hammer to try to loosin it. I read that idea in another post where someone was trying to remove brake rotors. Do you think that might do the trick?

BTW, Rod thanks for the insight. Should I maybe try some heat too? Thought maybe that might help.

OMG! I hate it when that happens! I use a pitman arm puller to get the really stubborn ones free. Sometimes they can be a bear!

The pitman arm method is basically what the factory service manual suggests. Air hammer would probably do it too.

-Rod

At this point the easiest thing to do is finish pulling the knuckle and taking it to a machine shop and have them press the old ball joints out and press the new ones in.

Mike
:smokin:

I have been trying for three days to replace the front ball joints on my wife's car. I have no problem getting the caliper, brake line, rotor, tie rod end, drive shaft and strut removed, but that darn ball joint refuses to cooperate.

Chris

Chris,
How did you get the strut off without removing the steering knuckle from the control arm? It has been a couple of years since I changed the struts on my 97, but after I removed the nut from the ball joint I used a pry bar to separate the arm from the knuckle to allow the ball joint bolt to get out of the control arm hole. The strut was loosely hanging from the top bolts that you access from the engine compartment. There is not enough clearance in the vertical direction to get the strut out of the knuckle otherwise.

[quote=TomV]Chris,
How did you get the strut off without removing the steering knuckle from the control arm?quote]

Tom, If you don't have a pair of coil spring compressors, then the way you described will work fine, unless you have the same problem I am having with the ball joint. I use the spring compressors to tighten the coil springs, and then remove the bolt that holds the strut to the steering knuckle. With the springs compressed and the bolt removed, you can easily raise the strut assembly by using a jack and a 2x4(for an extension). Place the 2x4 under the part of the strut where the bottom of the spring sits. Pump the jack slowly and the strut will raise right up out of the knuckle:smokin:

Thanks guys for all your insight. Thought of the pitman arm puller, but tried the two jaw puller instead. It kept flopping to the side, so I think I'm gonna make a trip to Advance and pick up that pitman arm puller. Probably gonna leave every thing else attached except the tire and try it. I've been putting it all back together every time I attempt this and that takes up most of the time. I live in an apartment complex and they get pissy and it really isn't safe to leave it dismantled. I took a few days off of this project to get your input and my wits back. Here I go again... If it doesn't work, my next post will only be this:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Gentlemen,
I got the ball joint out of the control arm! I used the pitman arm puller combined with the prybar method used by TomV. Thanks. Now I can't get the ball joint out of the steering knuckle. Probably gonna take it to the machine shop like yall suggested. I'll have them remove this one and press the new one in. The passenger side can wait. I'll pay someone to do that side. Not that I'm sissying out or anything, but its not a project car, its the wifes daily driver. Thanks again and again for all the help guys. I feel as though I've made some new friends here. I spend most of my time in the Nissan forum for 240sx, cause thats what I drive and its my current project. I'll keep an eye on things here and lend a hand when I can. Kinda gettin tired of the Newbie status though. I just don't post unless I need some help or can help. thanks again
:smokin:

[quote=TomV]Chris,
How did you get the strut off without removing the steering knuckle from the control arm?quote]

Tom, If you don't have a pair of coil spring compressors, then the way you described will work fine, unless you have the same problem I am having with the ball joint. I use the spring compressors to tighten the coil springs, and then remove the bolt that holds the strut to the steering knuckle. With the springs compressed and the bolt removed, you can easily raise the strut assembly by using a jack and a 2x4(for an extension). Place the 2x4 under the part of the strut where the bottom of the spring sits. Pump the jack slowly and the strut will raise right up out of the knuckle:smokin:

Chris, I used a set of compressors but I guess we had opposite problems. My struts would not move easily within the knuckle and I had to use Liquid Wrench and a gear puller to push the strut out, but that was after the knuckle was out of the control arm and the whole strut/knuckle thing was out of the car!

I just looked at my Haynes manual and there is a picture of a Pitman separator on the ball joint, so I guess I must have used mine for that purpose as well.

That's cool Tom. I guess we know two ways of doing it now. I used an air hammer today and pushed the ball joint out of the knuckle with no problem. I probably will attempt the passenger side after the learning experience I had with the left. The funny thing is I bought the air hammer a couple of days ago to remove some rock from a pillar in a house I'm remodeling, not even realizing that it would work for what I needed it for. The new ball joint is in and just waiting till the rain here in KC lets up so I can put it all back together! I gotta buy a house with a garage soon.