$10 Upper Ball Joint Socket - Really

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Just wanted to give a update on this socket. I picked it up and it worked great to remove the ball joints. I give it 2 thumbs up as a cheap alternative to the OE socket.
 
I ground off 4 points of a 1-7/8" 12 point socket that I never use.
 

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............I have had to use a 4 ft snipe on my 18 inch breaker bar a few times.............although I have never used an impact on them..........kim......
 
summit racing has a socket for 16$ its a impact ball joint socket by sunex that with a 40 inch 3/4 breaker bar should get any ball joint out
 
I just bought this and used it. Wow, super easy to remove the ball joints. Used my impact as well. The socket says not for use with an impact. But I was up for an adventure..
 
I just bought this and used it. Wow, super easy to remove the ball joints. Used my impact as well. The socket says not for use with an impact. But I was up for an adventure..
Yeah, I just did a few impacts at a time 'til things started to move.

I've since seen this same tool elsewhare, like at NAPA. Not sure if any other brands are better/stronger.
 
Picked up one of the O'Really sockets today. Gonna try it out tonight. Hope it goes as easy as some others. Thanks for the tip..
 
$10 worked like a dream. Had UCA in a vise, couple hits with the impact, spun right out. Thanks for saving me some dough!
 
Do this fit the oldies, like my -65 Barracuda, or the later -73 up A-bodies? I'm about to replace all the balljoints of mine, and was wondering if I need a socket, or if it will come off with some Kroil and an adjustable wrench...
 
Do this fit the oldies, like my -65 Barracuda, or the later -73 up A-bodies? I'm about to replace all the balljoints of mine, and was wondering if I need a socket, or if it will come off with some Kroil and an adjustable wrench...

This socket is for the large ball joint 73 up style.
 
So here it is Sat late Sat afternoon, one UCA is out, and the non-socket attempts to unsrcew the upper ball joints aren't working and NAPA is long closed. So I go to the usual Advance/O'reilly/Otterzone circuit to see what I can gin up for a 1-59/64" 4 wall socket substitute. Advance has a $180 deposit set that I can rent, so I kept looking and at Oreilly's, I run a across a 2-1/4" 4WD spindle socket that fits thr BJ flats amazingly well (their PN W1269). It has 4 small tangs to fit a spindle nut, so I was not sure how it might work, but, for $10, 'what the hey'..I could go back to Advance tomorrow AM..... and I don't care to save these BJ's.


SO, when I get in the garage, I figure I'll be lazy and try it with the impact wrench. Got it in place, held the socket with a rag to keep it stable, hit it with just a few impacts...."Hey did that move?" A few more impacts and for sure it is turning the ball joint out, no problemo. It was a piece of cake, working a short impact burst at a time, re-checking the socket's alignment each time, and the BJ was out in about a minute. The fact that the BJ and UCA had soaked in PB Blaster for an hour + did not hurt.


Next was to try to on the UCA and BJ still in the car. With a whole 1 minute of PB soak time, the result was the same: the BJ started turning out on the first impacts. In a bit over a minute of just short bursts on the impact wrench, it was out. This BJ was a tiny bit crooked coming out; I did not wipe all the grease away first to see if it had been installed crooked the last time. I know tomorrow when I clean the UCA up really good.


I expected the tangs of the tool to dig into the BJ more, but it did not. You can see in the pix below on the 2 BJ's; the marks on the right are from this tool and the ones on the left were from the prior installation. The tangs on the socket flattened just a bit and that made a flat contact patch on the BJ flange.


I like this socket because:
1) it takes a 1/2" drive, not the 3/4" that the standard socket takes and which many people do not have
2) it is tall and so you can hold your hand on it with a rag and keep it stable/seated with an impact wrench
3) it is $10!


This might not work so well with a breaker bar since it IS so tall and could be less stable than the normal very low socket for this app. The tangs could be ground recessed a bit so this would be more stable with a breaker bar.


Good luck if you try it! YMMV..... Sorry the photos aren't sharper.
 
I used the spindle socket and it worked. It was a little difficult on the install keeping it on the ball joint. Sadly, I had to change them again because the ones I put in were DEFECTIVE pieces of CRAP. I ordered new ball joints from Summit and ordered the $13 1+59/64 socket at the same time. It was a little bit sloppy on my 72 Valiant, but fit better than the spindle socket. It would probably fit perfectly on 73+up.
All in all, a good investment.
 
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