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  #121  
Old 04-11-2019, 03:58 PM
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You have to put the control arm back on to have something to hit. Not sure if you did that. A pickle fork concept will work in that case. Since you already got the control arm off the "big duh" is to use the bolt from the ball joint to pull it out.

Set up with something akin to a donut of steel around the ball joint threades rod, put the arm on with just a few threads make sure it's loose on the top and when you tighten the big bolt, the donut gets tight on the knuckle before the ball stud gets into the control arm. Get that tight and if it doesn't pull out just from tension hit it with a hammer to ring the part it should pop out.
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  #122  
Old 04-11-2019, 04:10 PM
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You can’t do that without first removing the two ears the bolts go through, and I’m not sure there’s enough land there to get a steel donut around it. Even then, these things are in there! People is this thread have managed to pull the balljoint out of its retainer trying similar things...

I’ve done it now, and had to remove the knuckle to get to the top of the ball joint. Big lump hammer and drift and they went, but I had to really, REALLY beat those things to get them shifted. To pull or push them out is going to take some serious force....
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  #123  
Old 04-11-2019, 04:27 PM
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when i took just the front thrust arms off, one came off pretty easily the other i was losing weight by the time it popped off; i can totally see pulling the ball joint apart like you describe because what i described could easily put 15,000# of force on the pin or more; a normal torque on a 14mm bolt is 18,000#

would you have had to remove the knuckle completely or, as in doing the front bearing could you have just removed the bolts from the front shock tower to get a better angle, especially with the front control arm off even more mobility.

Also; i have an electric palm nailer; it's about the size of a softball and can pound a 16 penny nail in in about 3 seconds, i've used it for banging out parts like these, and will probably bring it out when i do my rear control arms soon, it hits harder than i can and needs no swing.
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  #124  
Old 04-12-2019, 12:47 AM
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The biggest issue is getting on to the top of the balljoint to pound it out - if you’re doing the front wheel bearing you’ll be pulling the driveshaft anyway, so you may be able to get a good swing on it that way.

I would recommend supporting the knuckle on blocks when you hit the balljoint - you will be really hitting that hard, and it’s not going to do the shock tower or other joints any favours if the load transfers to them. Also there’ll be a fair amount of movement without he control arm in place.

Personally, I think you’ll find it easier just to get the knuckle off completely and do it on the bench. If you’ve pulled the driveshaft and removed one control arm, it’s not a big deal to remove the other two and the two big bolts holding the knuckle to the shock tower.
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  #125  
Old 04-12-2019, 01:12 AM
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Is the ball joint being seized in place only an issue in places where they salt the road? They don't do that here and my X5 is very clean underneath (most I've got is some dust).

Asking since I need to do both my lower ball joints.
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  #126  
Old 04-12-2019, 01:27 AM
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It’s certainly worse in salty environments- my car was previously owned in Southampton (coastal town in the UK) but I think just age is also relevant.

Expect it to be a b***h of a job, and if it’s not...bonus!!
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  #127  
Old 04-14-2019, 01:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FourPointEight-is View Post
Is the ball joint being seized in place only an issue in places where they salt the road? They don't do that here and my X5 is very clean underneath (most I've got is some dust).

Asking since I need to do both my lower ball joints.
It's entirely possible that you'll have no trouble at all. I had no real problems when doing this on my ~170k mile 2001 in about 2015, in good-climate, no-salt California its whole life.

I may have needed a good selection of pullers, etc. to get just the right pull in just the right spot, but generally try not to use a hammer on my cars, and did not have problems on this one.

So YMMV seems to be especially true for this job, since there are plenty of nightmare stories out there.
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