Ball Joint Siezed in Strut

[Jaybird12]

Greetings. Does anybody have any tricks to get a siezed ball joint pin out of the bottom of the strut? Its a 75' 911 Boge strut. Both the ball joint and strut are perfectly acceptable so I'm hesitant to heat them up. I've soaked them and tapped and beat but they aren't moving.

[mazing3]

By PIN do you mean the cotter in the the castle nut or are you talking about the tie-rod end from the steering knuckle arm?

If cotter- a drift or just air impact gun on that nut and it will shred that cotter pretty quick.

If it's the actual ball joint ---not to sound like I'm insulting you here---but are you using a balljoint removal tool? Long fork-looking thing that slides in between the joint and the arm? Make sure you don't catch any of the rubber boot and whack the back end of that thing with a hammer if you need to and it will come right off. A lot of times you don't even need the hammer. I got mine at Autozone. It's cheap and you'll always be glad you had it.

If it's not that then just give a little more description because I'm just curious now.

[schumicat]

i had one pin that was seized and would not come out after much hammering with a mini sledge, I think I even went to harbor freight and got a bigger mini sledge than the one i already had. used wuerth rost off, etc. I had to give up and have a shop do it (it is the first time I had to do it with the 911). they said they had to use a really big hammer.

[mrhaydndownes]

Currently I'm in the same boat with my '80 SC...

And for clarity, we're talking about the "Wedge Bolt" that goes through the strut with a washer/nut on one end.

I've drilled out most of the wedge end of the pin, plus tried the BFH [Big hammer], plenty of WD-40/penetrating oil and heat with a propane torch [which probably isn't hot enough, and now I'm worried about the ball joint being compromised].

I'm thinking that part of my problem is that I've bent the threaded end of the pin around the ball joint pin that goes up into the bottom of the strut.

Next plan of attack for me is to: A] keep drilling the pin out as I'm so far through it already, hoping that the threaded end falls off by itself, or B] take the bilstein strut out of the car, and get it pressed out at a machine shop.

I already have the top of the shock tower nuts off, and was able to remove the tie rod end from the control arm by using a gear puller. I understand from other posts that the castellated nut under the bottom of the ball joint can be a real PITA to get out.

Jaybird12, not sure that this helps you, but at least your not alone

[mrhaydndownes]

Follow up from earlier...

I've completed drilling out the pin, and have attached pictures below.

I have some additional questions regarding the ball joint itself [and I've looked at a lot of ball joint posts]

1] I'm assuming that IF the boots are intact, that any oil or other liquids coming from above cause no issues to the grease in the joint?

2] Also that heating the wedge bolt can't hurt the ball joint?

3] lastly, you can use the pitchfork tool to separate the ball joint, and reuse the joint AS LONG AS THE BOOT IS GOOD?

Picture 1: Wedge Bolt out of car



Picture 2: Front strut [front view]



Picture 3: Front Strut [rear view]

[mrhaydndownes]

[rusnak]

The thread title is misleading.

Since you never re-use the wedge pins anyway, it's ok to go with a BFH to remove them. I used a 12-lb sledge to drive them out last time when I replaced the A-arm bushings. I started with a hammer, then a dead-blow hammer, a mini-sledge, then a real sledge. But usually I just leave the wedge pins in and drop the whole suspension as a single assembly. I use a copper paste on re-assembly, just to do what I can to help removal next time.

A big pipe wrench is the best tool to remove the balljoint nuts. I never use a pickle fork on the tie rod pins. They are horrible. I use a pin removal tool that is designed for it. Only when working on something much heavier and stronger such as a tractor, forklift, etc would I ever hammer on the steering arm.

[uwanna]

[QUOTE=mrhaydndownes;7896509]Follow up from earlier...

Picture 2: Front strut [front view]



I thought you said you had a Boge strut. If so, how come it appears to have a roll pin that is used to secure a Bilstein shock, which is an "upside down" type shock? Boges
are secured by a threaded boss on top of the shock.
Just wondering.

[mrhaydndownes]

The originator of this thread - Jaybird12, does have Boge.

On my '80SC, I have bilsteins.

Hope that this clears up any confusion

[Jaybird12]

Wow! This is great to see so many chime in. To clarify, its not the wedge bolt I'm referring to. That popped out without too much effort. It's the pin from the ball joint that the wedge bolt secures. I've been trying to use my pickle fork (no offence taken mazen3) but I'm worried about ruining the boot on the ball joint. Worst case I guess would be to drop the whole assembly down, struts and all so I can swap the cross member.

[rusnak]

the rollpin? You need an appropriate sized steel punch. I'd suggest getting a set of hardened chrome steel punches from Sears or something equivalent.

If all you're talking about is the separation of the strut from the A-arm, then I'd make sure that I can loosen the balljoint nut first, then re-install it. Use a block of wood and a hammer to drive the A-arm and balljoint out of the strut.

[jpnovak]

To separate the ball joint from the strut...

I heat the base of the strut. Then use a pry bar to lever on the a-arm against the bottom of the strut. Then use a small sledge to hit downward on the a-arm. Usually they will pop loose when you pry the downward pressure as compared with just hitting downward.

[mazing3]

Pickle fork? Is that what that thing is actually called? Thanks!

Yeah sorry I had the other ball joint in my mind. I do remember beating the crap out of it with a 12lb and destroying the boot. Jamie has a much better idea.

[Bulldog9]

I just did this (first time) on my 76 with original Boge struts & balljoints.

My experience: Big hammer (2lb sledge) no heat.
1. Back off wedge bolt nut to the end of bolt, spray liberally with PBblaster or equiv, let sit.
2. Bang the crap out of the bolt till it breaks loose and starts to move. I switched side to side and sprayed PBB between took 3 round trips. When the bolt is flush with the strut face remove it and bang the bolt the rest of the way through. If it doesnt pop out the other side, use a heavy duty punch or drift on the bolt and knock it through the strut.
3. For separating the balljoint from the strut, I use TWO of the balljoint forks. Place the first directly over the balljoint and slide as far in as possible. Take second fork, wedge it on top and hammer it in. Should pop off pretty easily. I DOUBT you will be able to do this without damaging the dustboot on the balljoint, but may be possible.

Bottomline, this is not a delicate job. You need to be precise with the hammer strikes, but tapping is going to get you no where.

**If you are removing the inserts from the boge strut for the first time and it doesnt come out easily, there is an O ring holding it in place. Boge strut cartridges are held in place by the threaded cap at the top of the shock. THere is NO drift pin. IIRC, only Bilstein has a pin, Koni and Boge do not.

[Travis Neff]

Car on jack stands, place a jack under the front hub - jack the hub up enough to take off some of the pressure, a few smacks of the A-arm with a dead blow and that will separate the ball joint from the strut everytime...

[Url]

For future use:

If you have already separated the A-Arm from the ball joint and the ball joint is stuck in the strut, you could use a hose clamp around the pickle fork as well to make sure the ball joint doesn't twist and you have something to hit on with a hammer. (This ruins your ball joint)

[47silver]

I used a pickle fork, but for it to work properly i noted that you have to open up the angle between the a-arm and strut so that the a-arm is parallel to the ground. You need to do this or the pickle fork will dig into the a-arm. I used a racheting strap. I put the strap around the upper part of the strut and around the a-arm and pulled the a-arm upwards. You cannot use a jack under the a-arm as it will just lift the car. Used this on 4 ball joints so far and it only required a couple hard smacks on the pickle fork and the ball joint gets loose, the strap also keeps things from flying apart.

[Oldporsche]

Dust boots are replaceable. Check with your local auto parts store. If not, they can be found on line. You may have a lot of choices in the aftermarket area.

[mreid]

If you've come this far, replace the ball joint. It's cheap insurance and easy enough to replace. I use an internally toothed, forged ball joint socket (eBay) and my 1/2" impact wrench and they spin right off.

[jjeffries]

I found this thread today; I’d already removed my a-arms (82 SC with Boge struts) and needed to get the ballpoints out of the struts having first removed the wedge pin/bolts. Glad i still had the two pickling forks I’d bought 30+ years ago because Bulldog’s recommendation worked perfectly. Much appreciated. John/CT