You're welcome.... glad it worked out ok for you.

excellent! glad to see what sounds like a very effective and do-able solution here for others too

BFH once again, for the win.

When in doubt, pound it out (unless talking about bearings or axles lol)

bearings are getting replaced if getting removed so hammer away. in general, hammers are perfect for any parts that you are replacing, not re-using. Just take care to make sure you are causing inadvertent damage to adjacent parts because of the shock.

Absolutely not a good idea to force hammer it off, you definitely will damage the bearing by doing that. Replacing the bearing is another PIA.

You guys think that hammering on the arm will hurt the wheel bearing? Or is there some other bearing I'm not aware of?

I think it will be fine if you hammer on the hub or arm and it won't damage the wheel bearing. I know it is common practice to hammer on the steering knuckle of the E36 to get the front control arms out. Nobody goes out right after and replaced the wheel bearing because it may have been damaged.

Hammering the hub could damage the bearing. Hammering the knuckle or control arm won't. I think we just got distracted on what you should or shouldn't hammer. If you are replacing something, go ahead and hammer it, make sure you don't incidentally damage something else while hammering though. If you want to re-use a part, hammering isn't the best idea for removing it.

The bmw tool is a screw on adapter for a slide hammer. I have it. You thread it on to the ball joint and the end of the slide hammer. It works on some of them. Usually it doesnt. It just pops the ball out and leaves the cup in.

Please can you provide a link where I can buy the slide hammer and balljoint adaptor ?

Can't Remove BJ from Knuckle
 

I know this thread as been beaten to death already, but didn't want to start a new one...

I have spent the better half of two days trying to remove the ball joint. First I kept the thrust arm attached and hammered with a 4 lb BFH for awhile. No bueno. I then rented the ball joint press from Autozone, which consists of a huge C clamp and a few plates and different size pipe stock. Before using this, I purchased the 3/4" Ball Joint Remover from Harbor Freight to separate the thrust arm from the ball joint so I can use the tool from Autozone. I didn't realize until later that ball joint press kit will not work as you would be essentially compressing the ears of the ball joint into the knuckle.

http://i933.photobucket.com/albums/a...psadkdrbjl.jpg

Next I decided to wack at it from the top with a punch and hammer. I already had the CV joint removed for some room. As you can see below, I did some damage, but not enough.

http://i933.photobucket.com/albums/a...psukuii3hf.jpg

I've scoured the forum before posting, and the only other two options I can think of is renting a slide hammer that I do not know how to use for this case or (more preferably) purchase a super duty air hammer with a 3/4" tapered punch.

If anyone has any ideas please chime in. I'd like to get the car off the jack stands by next weekend (been 1 week already).