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Harbor Freight ball joint tool versus Little Red

L

LittleRedXJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Everett, MA
Score = Little Red 1, HF ball joint tool 0

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This happened on the first of the ball joints. BEFORE this happened, I had already broken BOTH of my socket wrenches trying to get the crown nut off the lower ball joint. This project has NOT been a lot of fun! I sheared the 3/8 inch drive right off one, and ground the innards of the other into dust. So first I went to Auto Zone and got a 1/2 inch drive 3 foot breaker bar, and then went back to rent the ball joint remover after I destroyed the Harbor Freight one. At least I get my money back, assuming I give it back to them without splitting this one too. Now I'm terrified to push it too hard. The one from Auto Zone popped the upper right out, smooth as butter. But so far, the lower one hasn't BUDGED. Not a micron. Ran out of daylight, back at it tomorrow! Hopefully soaking it all night in Liquid Wrench will help. :flamemad:
 
The AutoZone tool should be better than the Harbor Freight one. I used one to do ujoints once, the threads were kind of fuxored on the shaft so I had to thread it into the press the opposite way but it worked.

My friend borrowed the balljoint press from Advance Auto. Couldn't find the breaker bar so they used the trailer hitch on the end of the ratchet to get the lower balljoint out. Impact wouldn't budge it.

Make sure you aren't trying to press it out the opposite way, they were initially.
 
Blaine B. said:
The AutoZone tool should be better than the Harbor Freight one. I used one to do ujoints once, the threads were kind of fuxored on the shaft so I had to thread it into the press the opposite way but it worked.

My friend borrowed the balljoint press from Advance Auto. Couldn't find the breaker bar so they used the trailer hitch on the end of the ratchet to get the lower balljoint out. Impact wouldn't budge it.

Make sure you aren't trying to press it out the opposite way, they were initially.
Click to expand...

Well, it does press out downward, right? Top goes up, bottom goes down... Ok, well, now I feel a little better about just wailing away on the breaker bar... AutoZone did say that if it broke because of defect, they would take care of it.
 
gerroffroad.com said:
pb blaster and a little heat will loosen up the rust and crud that forms on in and around the balljoint/holes
Click to expand...

Hah, well, I hear its supposed to be like 90 tomorrow... Maybe I can run a heat gun out there or something, too...
 
Hit or miss....I know lots of people who have had zero problems with their HF Ball Joint Press....
 
I did my ball joints on a '99 a couple months ago. It was my first big job. Went smoothly with the AZ tool (actually if I recall the AutoZone I went to did not have the 'master' adapter set... but a Advance Auto nearby did... so I used the Advanced tool). Either way.

I had one joint not want to budge. I cranked with my breaker bar many many turns... there was TONS of pressure on the joint but no movement. With all the tension built up, I smacked the axle's inner C with a small sledge and BOOM! It popped loose. The sledge smack deformed the hole ever so slightly and the pressure built up by the press did the rest. Try it if you get hung up on a stubborn ball joint.
 
just finished replacing the balls on my spare D30-- they were a S.O.B. to get out!! Originals from 1986, and were stuck beyond anything I've seen in twenty years of wrenching-- map gas, monster I.R. impact gun, heavy duty ball joint press, and air chisel got 'em out-- but it wasn't pretty for a while there!! I used curse words I had forgotten I knew and almost carried it to the local garage to -- heaven forbid-- pay them to fight with it!
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Blaine B. said:
Purty D30.

Are the jeans and shirt to stop the jackstands from scratching the axle? Of course it'll never get scratched once it's installed!
Click to expand...

absolutely-- I try very hard to keep things looking new-- until they're installed. After that, it's no holds barred. I used to restore Mustangs, and I tend to be slightly obsessive about how things look when they're installed. Needless to say, the grabber green is part of a theme/ sick joke that started many moons ago....

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007-2.jpg

004-1.jpg
 
nice breakage. I've been mean to my HF ujoint tool, I've used an impact gun on it for all but the first 5 minutes. :-D Cracked a piece off of a driveshaft yoke (needle fell into the ujoint cap), but no damage to the circle press thing yet.

Good luck!
 
duke000088 said:
I did my ball joints on a '99 a couple months ago. It was my first big job. Went smoothly with the AZ tool (actually if I recall the AutoZone I went to did not have the 'master' adapter set... but a Advance Auto nearby did... so I used the Advanced tool). Either way.

I had one joint not want to budge. I cranked with my breaker bar many many turns... there was TONS of pressure on the joint but no movement. With all the tension built up, I smacked the axle's inner C with a small sledge and BOOM! It popped loose. The sledge smack deformed the hole ever so slightly and the pressure built up by the press did the rest. Try it if you get hung up on a stubborn ball joint.
Click to expand...

Hah, yeah, I realize I misspoke there, it was Advance Auto I went to, not Auto Zone.
 
whatevah said:
nice breakage. I've been mean to my HF ujoint tool, I've used an impact gun on it for all but the first 5 minutes. :-D Cracked a piece off of a driveshaft yoke (needle fell into the ujoint cap), but no damage to the circle press thing yet.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks. Passenger side went like butter. Took me like 4 hours to do both ball joints and the U-joints, including walking back to Advance Auto and back because I broke a U-joint cap putting it in. After taking three full days to do the driver's side, it was a welcome relief. Unfortunately, when putting the driver's side back in, the hub assembly bolts were wicked impossible to go in for some reason, and I snapped one of them clean off inside. At that point I finished up and drove it one block to the nearest garage with two bolts in the hub. It was Saturday, so I'm still waiting for them to fix it. They said they'll put a new hub on rather than try to get the stuck bolt out. After four days of working on it, I don't care what they do. I would do it myself, even the guy at the garage said I should just do it myself, but I'm working 13 hour days for the next 6 days, and I really want the damn thing back. I hate having one car between the wife and I. I'm so glad for the NAXJA forums though, couldn't have done this job without them.
 
My OTC should arrive today. You also want the adapters to do the axle or you're going to fight it. Ball joints have never been more than a 15 minute job per side once the knuckle is off. :) Oh, I ordered the OTC from tooltopia it was like 75 bucks. What you might want to do is just buy the jeep adapters and then rent the press from Autozone or CSK/Orielly.
 
you should not be using impact guns, or he-man torque on the presses, only hand tools. you should get them really tight using hand tools, then use a hammer and smack the piece that is holding what you are trying to get out (driveshaft ears, inner-C etc.)

you want some tension in the press to actually push the part, but shocking the item that is holding the part in is what pops them out. some PB-blast, and heat if all else fails.

not surprised you broke that press.

it reminds me of tech's using the bearing separators at a friends shop. they tighten them up with impact guns to try to press bearings off of carriers or axles, instead of snugging them up, and using the press to do the work.
 
tomcat said:
you should not be using impact guns, or he-man torque on the presses, only hand tools. you should get them really tight using hand tools, then use a hammer and smack the piece that is holding what you are trying to get out (driveshaft ears, inner-C etc.)

you want some tension in the press to actually push the part, but shocking the item that is holding the part in is what pops them out. some PB-blast, and heat if all else fails.

not surprised you broke that press.

it reminds me of tech's using the bearing separators at a friends shop. they tighten them up with impact guns to try to press bearings off of carriers or axles, instead of snugging them up, and using the press to do the work.
Click to expand...

Hey, I didnt' use any impact tools. I was using a three foot breaker bar at the time, but I don't think I'm that huge of a guy. The PB-blast did work wonders on the second side. Used Liquid-Wrench on the first side, I'm not sure that did anything at all. Putting them in the second time around was even smoother, thanks to whoever it was that suggested putting them in the freezer.
 
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