halfshaft help

[eingedi]

I'm trying to drop a used engine into my 97 metro, and have run into a problem getting the halfshafts out of the transaxle. They "popped" part of the way, but won't come completely out of the gearbox, or go back in either.
Any suggestions would be most welcome. If I can't get them out, I'm just going to cut the engine loose and pull it, but I'll still need to get the evil creatures back in place.
I've already tried the "quarter turn/half turn one way or the other" trick, but it didn't help at all.
Thanks!

[Crvett69]

have you taken the other end out of the knuckle and brake rotor? to get them out of that end first take the big center nut off then jack car off the ground, where the lower control arm joins the the bottom of the hub you will see a bolt and nut. remove then. you should then be able to pry the ball joint stud out of the hub. once you have done that you can turn the steering wheel all the way left and remove the right axle from hud and turn full right to remove the left one. once you have them out of the hubs they should come out of the tranny

[SchlockRod]

I've been trying all evening to just "pry the ball joint studs out of the hub".
Are you kidding?
I'm really afraid of damaging something.
I've had a 6' long pipe as a lever with the far end up against the bottom of the car behind the wheel. Even standing on this pipe I can't make this stud pop loose. A pickle fork will destroy the ball joint I'm afraid.
Someone please offer some practical solution.
Haynes says "pull on the stabilizer bar". Yeah. Right. Why don't they say "blow on it and it will come loose", or "talk nicely to it and it will drop right out".
Thanks.

[Crvett69]

did you pull the bolt and nut out that is at the bottom of brake rotor that holds the ball joint top in?

[geozukigti]

try taking the stabilizer bar link off of the control arm spray it with some PB blaster, let it soak, and take the nut off the top. Once the stabilizer bar is disconnected, the ball joint should pretty much just fall out with nothing more than hand power.

[SchlockRod]

Thanks, guys. But here's the deal:
Yes, the "ball stud squeeze bolt" (Haynes) has been removed from both sides of the car.
There is no anti-roll bar ("stabilizer bar") on this car.
So I've soaked the ball joint stud in PB Blaster (I'm wondering how good this is for the ball joint itself as it seeps into the lube boot). And now I'm about to try a 3' crow bar somehow between the control arm and the knuckle or halfshaft. I'll also try turning the wheels to full left or right lock as I do this. I'm thinking that maybe prying open the ball stud squeeze collar as I do this may help?
Should I try to squeeze some grease into the ball joint boots if I get the joints off without destroying them?
Observations:
1) I'm starting to wonder why I am doing this.
2) Why do I need to drop the control arm to get the halfshaft out?
3) If (that's a very big IF) and when I get the ball joints apart, will I now be looking for a pair of control arms and trying to find the hundreds of $ and several days to try and install them onto this rust-encrusted heap?
4) Based on posts to this web site, I was thinking that I would have the JDM engine and a new clutch installed in maybe two days. Now that one day of the three I have is gone, and I have yet to even start pulling the halfshafts, I'm thinking of borrowing money to buy another car, or maybe stealing one. 5) Whoever said "pulling engine & transaxle together is way easier than engine only" is either (a) laughing right now as I finally get the joke, or (b) lives in Guadalajara and has no idea what sodium chloride is or what a saturated solution of it does to car parts when applied 4 months out of every year for 14 years.
Thanks in advance for any encouragement you can give me.

[Crvett69]

if you see the split where the bolt went through try hammering a big screwdriver into it to spread it a little bit, ball joint should pop right out then

[SchlockRod]

Thanks, Vette.
But here's what I've done since my last post:
1) Turned the wheel to full left lock, giving what looked like much better access to the ball joint on the left side of the car.
2) Applied a 3' crow bar, with the tip on the control arm just next to the ball joint boot and the bend of the crow bar very conveniently in the little groove of the brake caliper, for very good leverage.
3) Lifted and jerked on the crow bar until my already-bad back started making popping sounds and spasms of pain.
4) Jammed a big screwdriver blade into the squeeze bolt groove with a big hammer, pulling to spread the joint while pulling on the crow bar some more.
5) Broke off the screwdriver blade in the groove.
6) Applied more PB Blaster to the joint.
7) Beat on the squeeze joint really hard with a foot-long punch and about a 5 lb. huge hammer.
8) Applied more friendly persuasion with the crow bar, to no avail.
9) Applied a small flame of MAPP gaas to the joint for about two minutes, above the bolt and toward the knuckle, to stay away from the rubber parts.
10) Smelled rubber burning (probably the ball joint boot) and turned off teh flame.
11) Applied the crow bar again; I swear I heard the car laugh at me.
I'm going to the tool store now to buy a 6' wrecking bar. Maybe I'll wreck the car WAY beyond what it's worth (I already have way too much time & $ into this pathetic car) and give it away to charity (it's end of tax year now).
Help?

[Crvett69]

if you can post a pic or e-mail me one of the part i can see if you missed anything. same e-mail @aol.com

[SchlockRod]

I can't figure out how to put pix here.
I'll e-mail you

[SchlockRod]

I'm really thinking of just putting all this back together & removing the engine only. I will be rebuilding the entire front end the way this is going (heading for disaster with a suspension part breaking in a major way or me getting hurt).
I now have a 6' wrecking bar but I'm afraid to use it. I think a shop would take the whole front end apart and use a hydraulic press or something like that to remove the ball joint.

[SchlockRod]

The 6' wrecking bar won't work. The tip shape just slips off the control arm when I try to use it as a lever. It's probably a good thing, because I think if you need a 6' bar to pry two little parts apart, something's wrong. I can't see a shop doing this.
I'm going to put everything back together and just take out the engine.
I think a lot of people have no concept of what is involved with working on Northern cars. This is not the first brick wall of rust that I've run into. Many times I've listened to someone tell me how to do a job "the easy way" only to realize that sometimes the effects of road salt leave NO easy way. I always end up at a shop with a guy telling me "This car/truck isn't worth what it's going to cost you", to which I reply "That's why I was doing the labor myself! Someone told me it would be easy!"
I think I will cut my losses with this Geo, sell it and my other cantankerous old cars (2 Mercedes-Benzes and a Fiat Spider), and find a used Camry, some wing tips, a trench coat, and be like everyone else, with a hobby like wood carving or gardening, until I can move to Texas, New Mexico, or somewhere like that.

[way]

To post a picture:

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Then click on the yellow picture icon at the top of the reply box in this forum and paste the URL link.

It should show up immediately but if it doesn't, click on "preview post" to make sure your picture came through.

Hope this helps.

[SchlockRod]

Thanks.
The left side ball joint is out and I got the right side ball joint loose after a whole lot of PB Blaster, prying, beating, heating, and finally whacking really hard on the suspension arm with my giant heavy hammer on the end of the 3' crow bar, just like the left side.
I now have the left axle out of the trans. Do I really need to take it out of the wheel hub? It's zip-tied to the suspension arm now and it looks like I can get the engine & trans out like that. I'm thinking same on the other side?
There's grease oozing out of the ball joint boots. I'm going to shoot some more in there with a pointed nozzle grease gun tip, before I put them back together. I'm also going to smother the ball joint shafts with anti-seize before I put them back together. They were a real bear to get apart. "Pop right out"? NOT!

[Crvett69]

you can leave the axles in the hubs if they are out of the way. sorry you had such a hard time getting them out. ones i do i can usually just pull down on and they will pop right out. once in a great while i have to use a pry bar or tap down on the lower control arm with a hammer while i am pulling down on it