Ball Joint Replacement Trouble

Hey Guys and Girls,

I'm in the process of trying to replace my ball joints on the driver's side. I'm cranking on the bottom one first of course. Seems like all I am doing though is bending the ball joint press from Vatozone. Any tips or tricks yall could recommend on busting this dang thing lose?

crank down on the clamp till its almost ready to bend and then take a hammer and smack the side of the knuckle where the ball joint is...

Do the top first. The top has to be out as the threaded piece needs to go thru that hole to press the bottom balljoint out

Use fire, and hammers, and press it until its about to bend or break. Only then are you ready to start cursing and throwing things. Oh and the ball joints might fall out after doing this for a while. For real though, if you have access to a torch your life will be alot easier.

Hammer trick works every time, never had to use heat. Listen to eflores on this one.

edit: make sure you're pressing it the right direction, I've spent 10 minutes wailing on the press only to realize I was trying to push the balljoint further in before :dunce: huge clump of grease and mud was hiding the flange that it bottoms out on, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

You will notice the ball joints don't sit in the knuckles at 90 degrees to the base of the knuckle. They have Jeep adaptors that are wedge shaped on one end. Once you get the press pushing *straight* down on the ball joint, then whack the side (ring) around the ball joint with BFH like suggested. You may be trying to press at an angle.

I made my own adaptors and shims/spacers for this job. You can buy the whole kit. My ball joint press is way heavy duty and designed for large trucks, I've had it stressed near to the breaking point on more than a few occasions.

Word of caution, when it finally breaks loose, it may be almost explosive, eye protection at a minimum, gloves and a heavy jacket are recommended. Especially if you use shims or spacers instead of the recommended kit and adaptors. Shims and spacers may fly everywhere, a good way to get bloodied. I still have a scare under my right knee to remind me what can happen.

As everyone else suggested, hammer, correct adapters and be ready for it to finally pop loose with a lot of force.

Wear eye protection.

I second, third, fifth or whatever the hammer. Small hand sledge. Make sure the head is steel. Wear goggles and hit it squarely,

Bigger hammer. And fire... definitely more fire.

one note about the hammers........ DO NOT wail on the knuckle itself trying to beat the balljoint out. they can bend pretty easy once you get real mad at the whole job.

Grease! Lots of it on the threads of the press. You want the force your turning it to go into pushing the ball joint as opposed to binding your press. Press bends a bit, then tap the joint with hammer.

Take that crap press back to auto zone and go get the one from advanced. I'd bet the one you're using has 5 pieces. The set with 23 has the offset cup for the installation and the adapter you'll need to push the ball joint all the way out. You're probably bottomed out on the one of two adapters the auto zone kit has and your ball joint is only half way out.

At least that was what happened to me just this weekend.