when i remove my lower ball joint in the front of the car, i use the hammer method. my question is this, can you hit the LCA so much that it will mess it up? i have 99-00 Si front LCAs and the little tabs that stick out where you hammer are pretty squished up. they dont stick out anymore cause of all the hammering. will this cause any damage over time? or weaken the LCA?

when should you not hammer on it anymore?

 

I wish people understood that a properly greased up pickle fork works much better and much more quickly than just beating on the LCA with a hammer. It will, eventually, create stress points in the tip of the arm, leading to a greater likelihood of breakage under heavy load. I doubt it will be a problem unless you flog the **** out of your car though.

 

what would you guys recommend? a pickle fork or the pitman arm puller? are there any chances of damaging the LCA or any other parts while using pullers? is it safer than beating the crap out of it with a hammer?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by deviant1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">would would you guys recommend? a pickle fork or the pitman arm puller? are there any chances of damaging the LCA or anything using pullers like beating the crap out of it with a hammer?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've used a pickle fork on everything from Civics to mini- and full-size trucks to vintage Corvettes and Camaros. Apply liberal amount of lithium grease to notch of pickle fork, apply liberal amount of hammering to blunt end of pickle fork and bam, done. I don't advise hammering on suspension components for the same reason I don't advise hitting door panels with a hammer: that's not the proper way to accomplish your goal.

I just use what works for me without damaging my vehicles' components.

 

ive noticed on the pitman arm pullers that the end of the bolt has a spike on it. when this spike digs into the bolt, will it cause any damage to the bolt or weaken it? it will leave a dimple in the bolt.

 

As long as you're going in to remove your axles or something, just unbolt the lower control arm from where it attaches to the frame, unbolt your radius rod and shock fork, and then you can just swing the whole thing out of the way without having to separate the ball joint. This is what all the technicians at the Honda dealership do when replacing axles - it's quick, easy, you don't need to rent or buy anything, and you won't risk breaking the boot on the ball joint.

Of course, this only applies if you don't need to disassemble the suspension.