so im trying to take my knuckle off right now and the very last ball joint is stuck.. doesnt even move.. the whole knuckle is now bent foward like its assuming the position.. and i cant even bend it back to get all the other knuckles hooked back up.. any ideas/help would be great. thanks.

the far shot

close up

the position of the knuckle

 

that happened to me once. i was using a pickle fork and just kept hitting it - eventually it broke free.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jwn7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that happened to me once. i was using a pickle fork and just kept hitting it - eventually it broke free.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Those tear the ball joint boot.

All you need is a hammer and good aim, I use a 16oz. Ball Pein hammer and it works everytime.

 

Yeah, never use a ball joint splitter/pickle fork, etc.

Take a sledge, or hammer even, put the nut on a couple threads in case you miss, and whack the LCA, NOT the knuckle, where the joint slides in. Again, hit the LCA from the side, and this will knock the joint loose. Move the knuckle assembly up and down quick a couple times and it will pop free. Don't hit it like a nancy boy either

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Evs-One &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yeah, never use a ball joint splitter/pickle fork, etc.

Take a sledge, or hammer even, put the nut on a couple threads in case you miss, and whack the LCA, NOT the knuckle, where the joint slides in. Again, hit the LCA from the side, and this will knock the joint loose. Move the knuckle assembly up and down quick a couple times and it will pop free. Don't hit it like a nancy boy either</TD></TR></TABLE>

put the castle nut on upsides down as well

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Evs-One &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yeah, never use a ball joint splitter/pickle fork, etc.

Take a sledge, or hammer even, put the nut on a couple threads in case you miss, and whack the LCA, NOT the knuckle, where the joint slides in. Again, hit the LCA from the side, and this will knock the joint loose. Move the knuckle assembly up and down quick a couple times and it will pop free. Don't hit it like a nancy boy either</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

just keep hammering at the LCA. one suggestion, wear ear protection, as the sound is very loud. use a big hammer, and sooner or later it will break loose. that ball joint is always a PITA to get off.

 

thanks for all the help. finally got it off. took a fork a hammer a breakerbar 2 more arms a couple legs and a super huge can of wd40

 

Forget the hammering...too much effort

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=887859

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=446576

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 89civicdx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Forget the hammering...too much effort

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=887859</TD></TR></TABLE>

I almost **** my pants the first time I saw that thread. To think of all the ball joints & castle nuts I've ruined by fartn' around with those fucked up rental tools . I'm going to be doing an axle swap this weekend, so I'm gonna give this trick a whirl...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Evs-One &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yeah, never use a ball joint splitter/pickle fork, etc.

Take a sledge, or hammer even, put the nut on a couple threads in case you miss, and whack the LCA, NOT the knuckle, where the joint slides in. Again, hit the LCA from the side, and this will knock the joint loose. Move the knuckle assembly up and down quick a couple times and it will pop free. Don't hit it like a nancy boy either</TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree that this method is the safest - read: least damaging - way to disengage ball joints, but when properly used, there's nothing wrong with using a pickle fork. The trick is in lubricating both the crease where you'll be sliding the fork and the fork itself before you go to town with the hammer. Also, the fewer hits you use to crack it loose, the better off you'll be in the long run.

Just treat the tool and the recipient like virgins breaking each other in and you shouldn't have a whole lot of torn ball joints to worry about .

 

dont use a BFH otherwise you'll end up relplacing that bj

 

put a floor jack under the rotor jack the rotor up, and hit the LCA with a hammer, it WILL break free, i have never had one that hasnt

 

the 1/2" ratchet trick rules! no hammer needed.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MugenDude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the 1/2" ratchet trick rules! no hammer needed.</TD></TR></TABLE>

there's a video in EG forum floating around somewhere.. i didn't belive it, untill i saw it with my own eyes.

 

Last time I will ever use a pickle fork, I hate buying used cars from a person who does not take care of them



That ball joint came out that dry, from my understand there suppose to be lubed

 

[QUOTE=89civicdx]Forget the hammering...too much effort

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=887859
QUOTE]

that video was classic

 

yup... thats it... some say pictures are worth a million words... ****, movies are just priceless.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Last time I will ever use a pickle fork, I hate buying used cars from a person who does not take care of them



That ball joint came out that dry, from my understand there suppose to be lubed </TD></TR></TABLE>

Wow, thats crazy. I can only imagine the play in the front end with that upper ball joint like that. I replaced mine on my teg because they had some play (240k miles). Were you able to find replacement upper ball joints? I couldn't find any, only full upper arms so I went with some lower mileage arms/ball joints from the junkyard.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Honda Hick &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Wow, thats crazy. I can only imagine the play in the front end with that upper ball joint like that. I replaced mine on my teg because they had some play (240k miles). Were you able to find replacement upper ball joints? I couldn't find any, only full upper arms so I went with some lower mileage arms/ball joints from the junkyard.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Its a long story, some people tried arguring with me saying the 89's had welded in ball joints, when I know mine ( actually my girlfriends car ) were not welded in and I know for a fact another guys were not welded in. I had to buy new upper arms because pepboys was the only place that stocked just the ball joint and they wanted like 90 bucks for them. The lady told me it was just the ball joint on the phone but her I.Q was pretty low.

On another note, buying used cars from people that think they know what there doing but don't, sucks. Long story short, there was a noise coming from some where in the drive train, look under the car and the one axle boot is busted. Ok no biggy, I'll replace it and the sound will go away. Nope, I actually think its the transmission . People that put aluminum siding screws into there cars should not be allowed to touch cars.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">People that put aluminum siding screws into there cars should not be allowed to touch cars.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea, I know how you feel when working on a "new" used car. You just start discovering stupid *** crap. I just got a GSR and the crank pulley had 2" chunks taken out of it, the alternator was just being held on by the top little adjusting bolt, all the brake rotor screws were so tight I had to drill them all out, and the bolts holding the brake caliper brackets onto the knuckles were so tight I had to torch them off. Fun!