Whats the best way to remove upper ball joints?

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e50095

e50095

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Need some advice fellas. Have 73 upper control arms for the disk swap in my 67. I have the balljoint socket and a nice breaker bar. Problem is the control arm doesn't fit real good in my small vice. I wanna do it right cause I've heard you can bend the arm if you put too much force on it. Can someone tell me whats the best way to go about it?

thanks.....

Ken in Pa.
 
put the control arm back in the car.....and bust them loose..
 
Learned that the hard way recently. Even on the car if you dont have everything together, it may be too much movement. I ended up taking one of mine to the garage up the street and he got it out with an impact gun. Needed to get them to press my lowers back together anyway. BTW I'm not far from you, Keith in Red Lion.
 
zkx14 said:
Learned that the hard way recently. Even on the car if you dont have everything together, it may be too much movement. QUOTE]

It also depends on which direction you pull them can help reduce/eliminate the car from moving when taking the upper ball joints loose while mounted on the car. I usually find it easier to pull parallel with the centerline of the car. :cheers:

Also use a good "cheater pipe". Go to the hardware store with the exact wrench you will use with the socket and buy a 2, 3, & 4 foot pipe that will fit over the handle of the wrench for extra torque. :D

It's good to keep a couple of good cheater pipes in the shop. If you can't break it loose, you can break it off with a good cheater pipe and go from there.... :violent1:
Click to expand...
 
I did it the same way that zkx did...I couldn't put them back in the car and I was a bit concerned with what I would do with them in a vise..anyway..took it to my mechanic ...left them there for a week..and when I picked them up..no charge...

That was one of the very few things I have subbed out..
 
I have put the ball joint in the vise jaws and put a piece of pipe through the holes where the upper bushings were.
 
krazykuda said:
zkx14 said:
Learned that the hard way recently. Even on the car if you dont have everything together, it may be too much movement. QUOTE]

It also depends on which direction you pull them can help reduce/eliminate the car from moving when taking the upper ball joints loose while mounted on the car. I usually find it easier to pull parallel with the centerline of the car. :cheers:

Also use a good "cheater pipe". Go to the hardware store with the exact wrench you will use with the socket and buy a 2, 3, & 4 foot pipe that will fit over the handle of the wrench for extra torque. :D

It's good to keep a couple of good cheater pipes in the shop. If you can't break it loose, you can break it off with a good cheater pipe and go from there.... :violent1:
Click to expand...

X2. Actually, pipe doesn't have to fit all that tight on the bar handle. I recommend not using a ratchet with the UBJ socket. With a cheater bar, it is possible to damage the ratchet mechanism or even to split the head. Personally, I have both a 4 and a 7 foot cheater bars.
Click to expand...
 
Piss off your wife! She'll take 'em out without breaking a sweat!:violent1:


Glenn
 
If the control arm is off the car a short piece of pipe approximately the same diameter as the holes for bushings can be inserted and then clamp the pipe in a substantial vice.
 
I've had to use a hand held propane torch to heat the arm up around the joint, and still had to use a cheater bar. I have a hugh vise so I've done them out of the car.
 
As stated above, it's easier to crack them loose while the arm is still attached to the car. If you pry the boot completely off, you should be able to grip the round portion directly under the arm with a pipe wrench and break it free. Chanel locks or the appropriate socket will work from there.
 
I forgot to Break mine loose before I sent the body off for restoration.

Made this with a scrap piece of 4x6 and 4 screw eyes. Mounted the arms with the cam bolts and used half my floor jack handle on a standard pull bar and they came loose no problem.
 
The factory ball joint "thread" in the UCA doesn't appear to be a formed thread, but rather was cut as the original ball joint was screwed in. A few times in and out and the thread can disappear, so take care. Despite that, it was loose on one side of my 64 Valiant after a rebuild so I had to tack weld the ball joint in. The 3-bolt design on other cars like GM, would have been better for us fooling with these cars 40 years later.
 
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