Anyone have any idea how to get these out. I soaked them with pb for days and beat with a hammer and nothing

 

Can you make a press with threaded rod and a plate and press it out? Thinking threaded rod into the mounting holes with 2 nuts to secure it, then 2 nuts against a plate which pushes on the ball joint bolt... Slowly apply pressure on the 2 nuts @ the plate to put pressure on it and whack it with a sledge...

Mine dropped out w/o the press when I did my axle. Whacked it with a sledge and it dropped right out (per video instructions from Mod Mini)

 

I will give it a try tomorrow. Thanks

 

I too had one seize up that no amount of hammering would solve.

I ended up using a small cutoff wheel on a dremmel to notch the seam between the joint and knuckle enough to fit a small wedge.

I think I used three size wedges (smallest to largest) to split the mating surfaces apart over 30min. Eventually I could work it off, the but ball joint was fairly bent from the force of the wedge.

Worst case scenario, new (used) knuckles run about $80, which isn’t so bad.

 

Somewhere on here I put the directions on how I removed mine. I’ll edit this post when I find it.

The basics: I bought 2 flat head Allen bolts, about 50mm long and the correct thread pitch.

PB Blaster is your friend here. Those ball joints had rusted in to the steering knuckle on mine.

Put those into the holes the retaining bolts came out of, thread in by hand. It’s not necessary to bottom them out.

Next, using an old lawnmower blade, go across the heads of the bolts with the threaded stub of the old ball joint sticking through the mounting hole of the blade.

Install the old ball joint nut on the ball joint, and start turning. WEAR GLOVES!

The blade will flex, but I got both ball joints out with a combination of running the nut down the stud, and evenly backing out the 2 flat head Allen bolts.

Edit 1: The thread should be 10mm x 1.5mm thread pitch.

Edit 2: The original thread;

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-2004-r50.html

 

I used a sledge and a punch. If you can put the punch on the lip of the ball joint that sticks out past the knuckle and hit it, you might be able to knock it loose. Otherwise, put the punch right on top of the ball joint and hit it, it should come loose. It doesn't help you this time, but a nice coat of anti seize will help prevent this problem next time.

 

That works! Did not think of that, the only concern I'd have is if you snap a bolt going into the CA.

 

Those flat head Allen bolts wouldn’t snap easily, but if one did go it should be easy to remove as long as it wasn’t firmly bottomed out in the hole.

One more bit to pass on; once the old ones were out I removed most of the rust from the knuckle where the ball joints were, and wiped on a thin coat of Loctite Extend. I used grease to help prevent things from rusting back together, but anti seize would likely have been a better choice if I’d thought of it.

 

Update?

 

Will the lawn mower blade method work if the lower control arm is still attached to the ball joint? That is stuck to the ball joint as well.

My goal is to remove the axle so getting the ball joint spindle out of the lca or the ball joint out of the steering knuckle will work. It doesn’t matter to me.

 

As long as the A-arm isn’t in the way of getting the flathead bolts into the holes where the ball joint mounting bolts were, I think it will work.

You will want the top of the flathead bolts to extend past the A-arm, but not so far that you can’t get more than 3 or 4 threads engaged on the nut.

There won’t be much room to move the ball joint back out of the steering knuckle before you have to loosen everything, and back the flathead bolts out a couple of turns, and then keep going.

I’m trying to visualize this and how it all went together, so I might have it wrong.

Let us know how it turns out. It will help the next person who does this.

BTW, my daughter’s Mini has been back on the road now for a couple of months, better than ever!

 

This was a complete pain to do, I used chisels and hammer method to pry an opening between the ball joint and the knuckle. Then use your favorite fluid (like PB blaster or whatever) in the crack that you create. Alternate between both sides to slowly wedge it out of the knuckle.

I used the Powerflex Roll Center adjusters, as I lowered my Mini, so next time will be much easier I only used the small shim, as the big shim requires 17 inch wheels (I found out the hard way)

 

if that’s all you need, I’d remove the 2 13mm bolts holding the ball joint to the steering knuckle, and then lever/hit the control arm so that the ball joint is pulled out of the knuckle by the lower control arm.

 

Thanks for the replies.

Dan_in_WA: Thanks for your thoughts on that. I've been trying your method today with no luck so far. I keep putting more AeroKroil on it. Have also tried using a chisel at the seam between the lca and the ball joint. So far, no luck.

nd-photo.nl: I fear that my ball joint is going to look about like yours did. It is really in there.

Racingguy04: I've been beating on the lca with an 8 lb sledge. No movement. I can't even get the lca to release from the stud on the ball joint. That's frozen too.

 

I feel you, a lot of time and effort went in there to get both of them out. Good luck, you got this!

 

Got it! Well, out of the steering knuckle anyway. It took a combination of AeroKroil, much beating with a chisel and 3 lb sledge, and Dan_in_WA's lawnmower blade method. Very satisfying when it finally released.

The stud is still stuck in the lower control arm. Will figure that out.

Thanks all for the help.

 

Here's one from You Tube.

 

If you have a harbor freight near by get a 3/4" ball joint spreader it is $19.99 just did this today, mine on both sides weren't coming out with any amount of hammering. Used this today and both came off. Be warned it's scary as **** when they finally let go, i would leave the 18mm on the last couple of thread, sounds like a gun shot when they release finally.

https://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-qu...tor-99849.html

 

the hf tool will help get the ball joint out of the control arm

use as little torque as needed. few turns, then hammer, few more turns, then hammer...

it does come off like a gun shot. wear eye protection

 

I hit the top of it with a sedge and PB blaster. Use a large chisel and sledge. Let soaked with PB blaster or free all for a while. Mine came out from heavy rust and NE Ohio salt.

When you install a new one clean the old one out and apply anti seize on the head of that ball joint insert to the knuckle.

https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/anti_seize/

 

I just did mine this past weekend. No amount of hammering from the top did it. Even after PB soaked for days.
This is what worked for me and was a variation of the earlier part of this thread with the mower blade idea.

I had a wheel bearing removal set. Took one of them and placed it over the bottom threaded pin of the ball joint.
1. Made sure the 2 bolts for the outer ball joint were screwed in. (You will back them out to create reverse pressure)
2. take off the nut on the bottom of the ball joint
3. Take one of the wheel bearing removal discs and place it over the bottom threaded pin
4. Add a few washers beneath it for depth to push the ball joint out further and then screw the bottom nut back on.
5. Unscrew the 2 side bolts from the bottom of the ball joint slowly up against the round wheel bearing. Do a little on each side at a time to pull it down evenly. You will notice the ball joint slowly separate.
This went nice and quietly. No bangs or cracks and it just slowly released from the housing. Then I cleaned up the interior and put the new ball joint in. All done. :-)

Hope it helps someone!

Pics of the puzzle:

 

Very nice man.... another Idea again.

This is what I like with NAM community.

 

Which part of the bearing removal tool did you use?

Is this the one? Please see below.

 

Sorry @Mforce , I missed your question! Yes, the round adapter you pointed to in your pic. Though I don't know that it has to be 'that' specific one. It was just the first one I picked up out of the puller box. Really whichever is sized right in diameter to capture the width including the bolts and has enough space in the middle hole to go over the center bolt of the joint.

And the Orion puller at Amazon is indeed the set I have. Though I imagine any round heavy duty metal disc/plate with a hole in the center will work. :-)

 

I will be looking for thicker plate. Thanks man.