Patrick007

Well I just started replacing the ball joints.. one side is really bad (but i'm doing them both of course)... yet when i go to loosen the nut on the top... the whole shaft spins as well. Nothing on the bottom of the ball joint is spinning so idk what to do. Should i just cut it off or soemthing?? Thanks guy

Patrick DeGrosse Jr.

chevymad

The shaft is tapered. So if you can force the knuckle down, and the a-arm up so it shoves the tapered part into the hole tighter it will grab so you can unscrew it. I've even used large channel locks to clamp the two together so the nut will come loose. Look on the bright side, if its spinning now that means it will come out of the knuckle easy anyway.

Patrick007

Hmm.. okay I will try that... another question though. I have a C-clamp type ball joint separator/remover but it is too big to be used the camaro. Is this tool necessary to remove/install the ball joint? I know i could probably just hammer the old one out.. but what about the new one? Thanks again

Patrick DeGrosse Jr.

mrr23

yes a big hammer will take the old one out. what i do is take a bottle jack and put under the new ball joint. jack up the lower arm some. then hit the control arm where the ball joint goes into the arm. it will start 'pressing' back in. then jack up some more and hit the arm some more. so this until it is all the way back in.

paulo57509

I'd reconsider using the hammer method to get the ball joints out of the lower control arm. I've seen several lower arms crack near the ball joint hole and then loose the ball joint after someone had used a hammer to get the ball joints in and out. Much better to have a shop press them in and out. Yeah, one El Camino ended up on the ground and squashed part of its fender.

Also, inspect the tapered hole in the knuckle after you get the ball joint separated. If the ball joint hasn't yet been partially separated from the knuckle and the ball joint shaft spins with the nut, the tapered hole in the knuckle might be egg-shaped.

BTW, what's this post doing in an engine forum?

Patrick007

Hey guys. Yea sorry bout my choice of forum.. suspension woulda been better... but anyway. I got the nut off... after a little.. finessing.. with the gringer.. but its off and the stud is still (partially) in tact. I didn't wanna rap on the top of the ball joint too much to get it out and its really stuck in there. I actually got the larger press on there (with the removing hardware) but it keeps pushing the stud of the ball joint sideways.. and it wont press it out. I'm not too sure what to do. This is my daily driver but I can use my parents car for a little while.. so I want to do it right. Any suggestions or tips on gettin this thing out? Thank you guys again

Patrick DeGrosse Jr.

breathment

what u are saying.... is that the screw head of the remover tool is directly touching the top of the ball joint, instead of that circular disk being in the way. i had the same problem, and the screw piece started to slip off the ball joint piece. but i was able to get it pushed down enough to get the circular disk piece to fit on it.