1971 914 Ball Joints

[joe buckle]

Any trick to getting these off w/o a special tool? i'm on a budget and need to replace mine

thanks, great forum

Joe

[Loan Dog]

Soak them REAL good with Liquid Wrench or something similar. Then you can try a big pipe wrench. But unless you want to remove the whole strut assembly from the car and put it upside down in a vice, this job is a PITA! The ball joint tool makes it a heck of alot easier, especially with an impact gun. The $45 - $50 bucks is worth spending IMO. Good luck
Don

[red-beard]

Ask Mike95125 - he spilt them yesterday with my ball joint separator. You might be able to rent the tool from your FLAPS.

James

[CHA914]

air hammer... removed them in 30-45 seconds...

dont use this method if you plan on reusing the nut :P

[Kenny Powell]

THE FORK(ball joint separater)

[Loan Dog]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Joe Buckle is refferring to having difficulty spinning the nut off the bottom of the ball joint, not separating the tie rod end from the strut rod with a fork. There is no need for any kind of fork when replacing ball joints.
Don

[Bleyseng]

I just did it today, not too hard either. Soak the ball joint nut and the ball joint in PB Blaster. Use a big chisel and hammer and hit the nut right off. Locate the chisel so it engauges the notches. Took 2 wacks on em and they were off. Didn't hurt the nuts at all. I first tried the pipe wrench but that seemed to clamp down too much on the nuts binding it to the ball joint.

Geoff

[Loan Dog]

When I did my first set, they wouldn't budge with the big chisle or the pipe wrench. I ordered the "special tool" and put it on my 1/2" drive impact gun and they spun off in 10 seconds. What I'm saying is some of responers are offering the wrong help with a fork type "seperator". Some times just having the right tool makes any crappy job a snap.
Don

[joe buckle]

Thanks for all the help. I think i'll just hunker down and get the tool. Once i finish, i'll list it on ebay ;^)