Best way to remove upper ball joint

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What are you trying to remove it from? If you are trying to remove it from the spindle, a pickle fork will work quite well, If you are trying to remove it from the upper control arm, you will need a ball joint socket and an impact gun makes the process much easier. The ball joints are threaded and screw into the upper arms. The sockets come in 2 sizes so you will need the correct one. The sockets are available at most auto parts stores.
 
go down to Oriely's and rent or buy the ball joint tool and take it back when down.
 
I'd recommend getting the right socket like grumpscreature says but would recommend against the impact gun- tends to strip the threads. I made a fixture that held the A arm. I shoved it into the receiver socket (trailer hitch) on the back of my truck and used about a six foot cheater bar to unscrew the ball joint.
 
it the suspension is still together then i would leave the upper control arm bolted up and break it loose with the socket then take it all out. i have bent an upper control arm trying to take the ball joint out while it was out of the car.
 
Stripped threads are a pain. If the previous installer cross threaded the ball joint, the threads in the arm are going to be all messed up. I was able to thread my ball joint back into the arm even with the stripped threads. Then I tack welded the ball joint on each side to the arm. The arm is going to be useless the next time it needs a ball joint, but at least I'm going to get another 100k miles out of it.

If you're taking the entire control arm off, flip it over and put the head of the ball joint tightly in a vise. Then put a breaker bar through the control arm bushing holes and spin the entire arm off the ball joint. You can get away without needing a socket. You can also use a pipe wrench but you can kind of muck up the arm and ball joint with it. It'll work just fine but I wouldn't do it on a show car.
 
We offer the ball joint removal tool for the small or large style upper ball joint if you are still in need.

Thanks
James
 
Thanks.

What size do you have. The one that I bought is 1 59/64. I have been told it is the smallest one of the two, but it is still too big for the ball joints on my car.
 
I know of only 2 sizes for A-bodies. The smaller one was in cars before 1973, and maybe later if a slant. I think it ties to the change from SBP to BBP wheels. Remove it while the UCA is in the car. I uses a big pipe wrench on my 65 Dart, but later got the correct socket, so an not to mar my pretty paint. It is American Muscle PN 23456, with no markings on the socket itself. Did you first remove the grease fitting so the socket can go all the way down?
 
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