[PeteKz]

I spent much of this afternoon trying to get the front ball joint stems out of the struts on my 1973 911T, so I can replace the front suspension bushings on the A-arms with Rebel Racing ones. What a swine of a job.

I was able to drive out the tapered bolts that wedge the top stem of the ball joint into the bottom of the strut. It took liberal use of Liquid Wrench, a 4-lb hand hammer, a brass drift pin, and a lot of whacks to drive out the tapered bolts on both sides. Next, I tried to pry the top stem of the joint out of the strut. I was exerting considerable force trying to separate them using a 2-ft pry bar, then a 6-ft pry bar between the A-arm and the bottom edge of the strut. I didn't want to push on the 6-ft bar too hard because that's a huge amount of force concentrated between the A-arm and bottom of the strut. But the sucker didn't budge on either side.

Any tricks of the trade or bright ideas? The ball joints appear good, so I don't want to trash them (that would also extend the job for a week, as I would have to order new ball joints and the special ball joint socket, etc. and wait for them to arrive).

My backup plan is to leave the joints alone, disconnect the brake calipers and tie rods, and then remove the strut and A-arm together. But I'd like to avoid upsetting the rest of the suspension.

Thanks in advance, PK