Tension Strut Balljoint - What to do if it's fighting you.

[nick325xit 5spd]

So, I'm fixing up my in-law's old X5 for a friend who needs a vehicle. It's an ugly one, but my friend (with some help from me) basically 100% refurbished it mechanically about 55k ago.

Anyway, one of the last items on the punch list was the tension struts. I got spoiled by my 100% carolina X5 and figured that they'd be easy since they weren't *that* old. I was wrong. After many hours of hammering, chiseling, and deploying the air hammer, attempting to get the angle grinder in there, etc... Well, I comprehensively failed to make progress.

What I should have remembered up front is that it only takes about 15 minutes to pull the entire damned knuckle off. And when you've got the knuckle off, you can hit the balljoint square with a hammer and that bastard will pop right out.

Anyway, the RF tension strut took me more hours than I'm willing to write here. The LF tension strut took me 45 minutes from start to finish, including about 5 minutes of attempted chiseling and R&R of the entire knuckle.

So learn from me. If the balljoint fights you, pull the stupid knuckle. Don't burn a bunch of time fighting it. Even if you don't have all the tools I do, it still won't take that long. (Fun fact: I used five different impact guns in this job.)

[Effduration]

What did you cut with the angle grinder?

And how easily did the axle come out?

[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by Effduration

What did you cut with the angle grinder?

And how easily did the axle come out?

Ultimately nothing. I was seeing if I could cut apart the balljoint.

The axle gave me no issues. Keep in mind that I did not actually remove the axle. I just knocked it out of the bearing. The part that gives people problems is the circlip in the diff.

[Effduration]

Originally Posted by nick325xit 5spd

The axle gave me no issues. Keep in mind that I did not actually remove the axle. I just knocked it out of the bearing. The part that gives people problems is the circlip in the diff.

For cars in the rust belt, getting the axle out of the bearing or hub CAN give people a ton of problems... I spent 3 days the last time I did it...

[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by Effduration

For cars in the rust belt, getting the axle out of the bearing or hub CAN give people a ton of problems... I spent 3 days the last time I did it...

I've been there, but it's usually not the biggest issue.

In this case, the air hammer knocked them both free very easily. On occasion, stronger measures have been necessary. I had a fun time with my E30 one time.

Edit: I'll note that this thing has been in PA for the last four years or so. The DC area is a lot less salty, of course.

[ahlem]

You need the scissors type ball joint separator.
BTDT. Used properly, these work much better than the pickle fork versions.

[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by ahlem

You need the scissors type ball joint separator.
BTDT. Used properly, these work much better than the pickle fork versions.

How does a balljoint separator get the balljoint out of the knuckle? You're thinking of the wrong problem.

[ahlem]

You put the forked side in the gap. You tension the screw onto the top of the bolt.
With a modest amount of tension applied, you whack the side of the knuckle and should hear the ball joint pop. You might have to repeat a time or two but once you get the hang of it you will appreciate the tool. Welcome to the rust belt.

[ahlem]

Unless you are talking about the one with the two bolts... I broke one of those carefully removing it. I invented some new words on that one.

[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by ahlem

Unless you are talking about the one with the two bolts... I broke one of those carefully removing it. I invented some new words on that one.

I'm talking about removing the bolted in balljoint from the knuckle.

The pickle fork was never actually used to attempt to separate the balljoint. There's no reason to even try to do that when you're replacing both.