Ball joint disaster - Phase II. I

[ulrichd]

This couldn't get any worse. Yesterday I stripped the special Porsche tool, to remove the lower ball joint nut, on he first try. However I did manage to get the passenger side joint off ok. The passenger side nut is pictured, after 2 hours of hammering, chiseling, heat, PB Blaster and dremeling. I am out of ideas - someone mentioned drilling holes into the nut until it breaks apart.

Just venting.

Ulrich

[ulrichd]

Correction, I finished the passenger side. The driver's side is pictured.

Ulrich

[North Coast Cab]

Did you use the tool in an impact wrench? I have always been able to take the a-arm off, turn it upside down and turn using a pneumatic wrench.
If not you can dremel a slot or two and crack that nut.

[Oh Haha]

Take Dremel tool and just cut the nut off. You don;t even need to cut all the way through. Just enough to release some pressure then chisel it the rest of the way. Be careful not to nick the a-arm too much. Remember, you aren't saving the oldball joint so go to town on it.
i had mine off in less than 5 minutes using this method.

EDIT: I was too cheap to buy the special Porsche tool.

[SP2]

Sorry to hear of your difficulties Ulrich. Did you use an impact wrench?

Wayne, how did you get the new ball joint on without the special tool?

I took the entire a-arm out because I was replacing bushings with polybronze and at the time I didn't own an impact wrench, so I brought both a-arms and two new ball joints to John Walker and he had them done before noon (and he didn't charge me!). This was my first interaction with John. He said he just buzzed them off and buzzed them on.

ps Try penetrating oil, not WD40, to aid in the removal. Steve Weiner sent me a bottle of Zep Penetrant and it is miracle stuff. I have never seen it available locally in Seattle though. Shops here carry PB Blaster.

[JP911]

When I did this project, I removed the first one with the A-arm still on the car and had the same experience as you. I ended up removing the A-arm on the other side and the job was 100 times easier with the A-arm upside down in a large bench vise.

[oneblueyedog]

Make some diagonal cuts through the nut into the shot ball joint. Don't touch the a-arm. Use fiberglass reinforced Dremel cut off wheels. I used 3 for each side to make the cuts. Then go buy a Home Cheapo air chisel and go to town on the cuts to spread the cuts. It's radical and you can vent a lot of pent up frustration on these. USE SAFETY GLASSES.

Reinstall using a new nut and ball. Read the previous threads on how to reinstall. Jack method is what I did.

The pins that hold the struts tap out via the flush side. Put the nut loose on the threaded side and tap that side with a brass hammer until it starts out the flush side.

Buenos suerte.

[juanbenae]

to pick up where JP left off some heat from a mapp torch and a BFPW. the BFPW is of course a big f'ing pipe wrench, and you will need a respirator to subdue the burning rubber and grease smoke leavin the BJ as the heat gets "just right".

why is one always easy, and the other a nightmare? and! the easy one's always first just to torment.

T$

[Chuck Moreland]

The special porsche ball joint tool should only be used for installation.

A good penetrating oil (zep or pb blaster) and chisel and hammer usually get 'er done. You need to put the chisel in the recesses of the the threaded ring and hammer in a direction such that you are loosening the ring.

I know you said you have chiseled, but I can see from the image you didn't do it the way I'm describing. If you had, the recesses would be bunged up. You may need to work around hitting multiple recesses before it let's go.

The dremel to cut a slit or drill to destroy the ring will also work.

[KFC911]

Originally posted by Chuck Moreland
The special porsche ball joint tool should only be used for installation.....

Yep! Although there's not a whole lot of the nut to get a grip on (1/8" or so), I've used a pipe wrench to remove mine with no problem (as long as you get a good 'bite' with the teeth). Using the 'tool' with an impact wrench, only bent my tool (...that doesn't sound right )

[ulrichd]

What can I say, this took two hours. The only explaination I have, in hindsight, is that the ball joint must have turned with the nut with each chisel blow which explains why the nut never backed out.

Wouldn't it make sense to keep the strut bolt in while you are loosening the castelated nut at the bottom? This would keep the ball joint from turning. Both Bentley and 101 Projects say to take the bolt out first.

Things I know now, but wished I'd known then: Only use Porsche tool for installation - NOT REMOVAL.


Ulrich

[greg bradbury]

I ha dthe same problem. My expensive tool ended up with some rounded off teeth. This was fixed by pressing off the outer ring and building up the teeth with an oxy and filing them back to shape.

The problem of getting the castellated nut off is compounded by it slipping off when mega torque is applied. What I did was put my floor jack under the tool with it in place, then jack the control arm up so the weight of the car was on the tool. This holds it in place while you turn the tool with a 15" extension with a 4' pipe extension. I got both of mine off this way and was able to reuse the nut.

[GeorgeK]

If the balljoint turned with the blows, you are in for trouble. It has an indexing notch that prevents it from turning...
On my car I took a 3mm drill and drilled down the ring to about half heignt, then a single whack with a chisel/hemmer, and the ring split.

[ulrichd]

George,
Among the many stupid things I did was pull the ball joint out the stut during the hammering. This meant there was not enough downward pressure to keep it in the notch. Hence the turning.

Ulrich

[Chuck Moreland]

Still, it won't turn. Look at your removed ball joint. It has a notch on one side that engages a nub on the control arm to properly index it.

[ulrichd]

Chuck,
Obviously a perfect storm of many mistakes made by me on this project. I am doing ball bearings next - look for a post about that one.

Ulrich

[safe]

Use the proper tool, pipe wrench with good teeths.

When in big trouble a dremel with either a cut of wheel or a carbide cutter will get you out of it in a hurry.

[ulrichd]

Ok, one more thing. When installing the new ball joints, I can't line up the notch in the strut hole correctly AND line up the notch in the a-arm and the ball joint at the same time.

Am I supposed to adjust this myself with a wrench. I don't want to hurt the new ball joint.

Ulrich

[ulrichd]

Just to follow up, neither "101 Projects" nor my Bentley manual mentions anything about indexing the notch in the a-arm opening with the recess in the ball joint.

Ulrich

[randywebb]

Y'all scaring me off of doing this....!!