Hey guys,

I'm trying to remove my passenger side axle from a 92 Civic CX hatchback and the lower ball joint doesn't want to separate. I've been using a ball joint separater tool and it's not budging. I've soaked it in WD-40, tried banging the area with a hammer to hopefully jar it loose, but to no avail. Any suggestions? Using a sledgehammer ??? Maybe there's a trick to it that I'm not aware of. Thanks for your help.

Joe

 

try raising the whole assembly as high as it can go with a jack underneath the rotor and then hit the lower control arm right where the joint is and hit it as hard as you can and it will usually pop off in under 10 hits.

if that doesnt work go buy a small 2 arm gear puller and set it up as tight as you can get it on the joint and then smack the **** out of the arm.

One time I had a real tough one and i used a 5 foot long firemans crowbar that I have and managed to pop it loose by jumping on the bar.

 

do what willis said but make sure you use a BFH (large hammer). we used the back of a large axe and it popped after 3 hits (compared to us hitting it 50 times with a crappy hammer). again, this is while the rotor is jacked up in the air.

 

are you using the tool that looks like a fork without the middle tines? how hard are you hitting it? some of mine i had to bang away for a while(switch peope), and use a big *** mallet/hammer. it will come eventually. turn the wheel all the way to get the most space to swing too.

 

yeah exactly, BLUFKE got it on the dime... just turn the steering wheel to where you have the most space to swing your hammer.. Put the fork in the socket and just smack it as hard as you can. it will pop off eventually, thats what i do every single time i get those. make sure the nut off the ball joint is off too, i forgot a few times and kept on swining, hahah

 

if your have a torch heat it up alittle 1 min or 2 then hit it w/ a BFH. DONE. make sure bolt under lower control arm is removed.

 

we tried doing that with the pickle fork but bent the hell out of it. Then i got smart and put a lot of pressure on the pickle fork and hit the lca with a hammer and it usually comes off w/ only couple swings. But good luck either way. my first time it took me and my friend 2 hours of attempts before we called a kid my friend knew to come over and show us how.

 

Christ, I've never had to hit **** with a hammer, I just got a pitman arm puller. Hook it on the 2 tabs on the sides of the lca, get a 1/2" drive breaker bar and tighten the bitch until it pops.

 

pitman tool is gold
pickel fork is a waste of time

take about 10 seconds with pitman tool

 

use a jack to raise up the whole entire assembly the wedge like a pry bar or any thing that will fit in there that is solid then lower it down, then stomp/jump or press down on the rotor after removing the jack and this will separate it every time. it uses the its own leverage against itself in a way. i personally dont like pitman pullers because they can collapse the bolts, i have seen it happen a few times. pickle forks just ruin the boot too. but hey, whatever works the best and easiest for you. let me know if you need any more help

 

get a fat kid to stomp on a crowbar wedged in there- worked for me 2x now. first time i tried to remove a balljoint i broke it. this was not using the fat kid method. if you cannot get someone to stomp on it for you- go buy that pitman arm puller

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blah13 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Christ, I've never had to hit **** with a hammer, I just got a pitman arm puller. Hook it on the 2 tabs on the sides of the lca, get a 1/2" drive breaker bar and tighten the bitch until it pops.</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dan GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">pitman tool is gold
pickel fork is a waste of time

take about 10 seconds with pitman tool</TD></TR></TABLE>


Listen to these guys; if you don't already own a Pitman arm puller, then you just don't have the tools for the job. Quit wasting time and go buy one at Autozone; they're cheap and won't rip the rubber boots like a pickel fork.

 

yeah, ive been borrowing my friend's pitman tool

but this time he was at work..and was sick of smacking **** with a hammer

so just went to autozone and bought the right size pitmans to take off the knuckle
its not expensive, and i'll need it again i know ...so its worth it

 

I have a new method I just figured out this weekend. Take out the entire spring/shock assembly along with the lower fork piece. Now you can stick a length of pipe in the hole where the upper shock mount was (the pipe will be sticking out of your open hood now). You run this pipe down against the lower control arm. Jack up the suspension by the brake rotor- hammer away.

50 unsuccessful hits with a 4 pound sledge and the ball joint puller and 2 for my new method.

 

I always used the leverage method...

starting from scratch-
remove the wheel.
loosen the lowe balljoint castle nut a few turns.
jack the knuckle up by jacking the LCA or Rotor...
jack it up enough so that you can slip a breaker bar or pipe in betweent the LCA and the Knuckle...
slip it right up against the balljoint too, leave enough of the bar sticking out so that you can stomp on it...
you may need to have the wheels turned to the side a little to get the best leverage.
lower the jack, on some cars this alone will pop the balljoint out.
If not, stomp on that bar end and that should do it.
this method is all about leverage and you shouldnt need to pound anything with a BFH and possibly ruin any threads, so its a good method.

good luck

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blah13 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Christ, I've never had to hit **** with a hammer, I just got a pitman arm puller. Hook it on the 2 tabs on the sides of the lca, get a 1/2" drive breaker bar and tighten the bitch until it pops.</TD></TR></TABLE>

After I rented the arm puller from AutoZone and used it I have not taken it back, it saves sooo much time and hassle it's not funny.

 

Just an extra note on that arm puller, be sure to have the point in the middle of the bolt when you start to tighten it. Tighten it slowly and itll make a nice indention then start cranking on it. Just be sure to try and keep it centered on the bolt, dont let it slide off to one side, then you will have a problem.

 

I learned this trick pretty quick:

Leave the castle nut so the top of the nut sits flat w/ the top of the bolt on the balljoint. That way, if the puller doesn't sit dead center on the bolt, then it won't screw up the threads when you let it slip off the side.

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/c...40661


Never use a hammer on the bolt itself...I learned that the hard way...after using a 5lb short sledge to try and smash it loose...I mushroomed the bolt and had to replace the entire piece.

start by loosing the castle not to the end of the bolt...attach the pitman puller and screw down (dead center of bolt) until hand tight. now loosen the castle nut until it is past the end of the bolt aabout 1/8"....this is to prevent the pitman from slipping. You can also create a housing for your pitman to slide through from steel tubing, cut to the correct length...this will provide a nice guide.

 

This is what I use:



Has never failed me yet and it is easy as hell to use.

It cost $13.50 here : http://www.mytoolstore.com/toolaid/suspn02.html

 

I love this tool, get it and loose the sledge hammer

 

Thanks for the link...I was looking for one of those...I still haven't found the seperator they use in the haynes manual for my 96 civic

 

brute force is the way to go new boots are only like 10 bucks if you can save the ring

 

hrmm $10 buck a boot for every time you separte the ball joint

or spend $15 once for the right tool

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dan GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hrmm $10 buck a boot for every time you separte the ball joint

or spend $15 once for the right tool </TD></TR></TABLE>

15 seconds w/ the right tool to pop the balljoint loose

or

30 minutes to replace the balljoint b/c you used the wrong tool (50% chance it will rip the boot)