HELP Ball Joint not coming off
 

Changing my lower control arms 31126760276 and sway bars, left side went like a dream, the right is not coming off !

Using a ball joint fork and a universal seperator which was too small.

WD40
Bashed it
Heated it
Bashed it

Q. How long do I have to heat the steering knuckle ?

Q. Any ideas who sells a ball joint remover big enough thats not the BMW OEM $300?

My 3hrs DIY weekend is totally f@cked and the wife needs to car next week.

Thanks,

Two words; Cherry red! :)

I've always had good success using the lever-type separator tools, like this:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PBKsky6MvW...0/kdt-3916.gif

I've never used it on the X5, but since that's an M14 nut, it shouldn't be any different than the other vehicles I've used it on. Get the nut loose, but leave it on with a little space between it and the arm the ball joint is fitted to, slide the tool over the ball joint, crank up the pressure then tap the side of the arm and it'll pop right out; no heat needed. I usually rent/borrow a kit from Advance Auto that has that tool among others, but have never needed the others.

I bought a much larger hammer and it popped out easy I will get the tool you suggested to keep damage to a minimum.

all sorted, thanks

Hope the first hammer wasn't one of those carpenter's hammer. you need a sledge hammer after all force is equal to Mass x acceleration and the bigger the mass the more force.

Another nice thing about the lever-type extractor is that it doesn't mess with the boot as much as a pickle fork tends to do. Generally not a big deal if you're replacing the piece anyway, but nice if you need to reuse the part.