Astro_Pneumatic_Tools
Well-known member
Astro 78620 Subaru Ball Joint Puller
Video:
Subaru, vehicles known for their AWD and driven in heavy snow/rain climates, decided to use bolt-in ball joints with no rear access to the ball joint. This means once unbolted they are supposed to come out by hand, but they often do not. Awhile back Eric O. gave me a call and asked if I had seen any of his videos removing a Subby lower ball joint, I had. He said we should be making the simple double sided adapter so you can slide hammer out ball joints like the Subby's. My feeling was sure, we could make the piece but a bit difficult to market as a tool and it really is tailored for guys on a lift that own slide hammer. What about the guys not on a lift, or home gamers?
I needed to design something that you could wrench or impact out while the car was on jack stands. Also, it should avoid spinning the ball joint to discourage ball joint separation (a real headache), and none of this two wrenches business where you have to hold a wrench on the tool and work a ratchet or impact on another part, that's just lazy design.
Well, as you may know Astro already makes a fair amount of ball joint removal related tools so we could make whatever we wanted. Nevertheless this sat in the back of my head for a month or two while I was busy with the 5-10 new tools we introduce a month under the many brands we manufacture for.
Then one evening it came to me and I had to excuse myself from the dinner table and crudely draw this tool in MS paint before getting to the office the next day and working on some 3D models. The solution was a slotted pinned design that pulls a Grade 8 thread via a Grade 8 top nut, the pin keeping the assembly axially located via slots in the adapter cup so that it does not spin. The threaded rod is common slide hammer 5/8-18" pitch and the tool includes the adapter you can use in conjunction with a slide hammer.
After I finished the modeling, I sent these to Eric to let him know I may have figured it out to work with just an impact as well. His words were something along the lines of "I was totally just thinking of a design that uses a pin!" But we may never really know if that's true or not
But this isn't exactly a Flux Capacitor, it's a simple tool that pulls Subaru lower ball joints
And it can be found for $25-35 as of the time of this post, so while other options can be found this one won't make your wallet hurt.
Video:
Subaru, vehicles known for their AWD and driven in heavy snow/rain climates, decided to use bolt-in ball joints with no rear access to the ball joint. This means once unbolted they are supposed to come out by hand, but they often do not. Awhile back Eric O. gave me a call and asked if I had seen any of his videos removing a Subby lower ball joint, I had. He said we should be making the simple double sided adapter so you can slide hammer out ball joints like the Subby's. My feeling was sure, we could make the piece but a bit difficult to market as a tool and it really is tailored for guys on a lift that own slide hammer. What about the guys not on a lift, or home gamers?
I needed to design something that you could wrench or impact out while the car was on jack stands. Also, it should avoid spinning the ball joint to discourage ball joint separation (a real headache), and none of this two wrenches business where you have to hold a wrench on the tool and work a ratchet or impact on another part, that's just lazy design.
Well, as you may know Astro already makes a fair amount of ball joint removal related tools so we could make whatever we wanted. Nevertheless this sat in the back of my head for a month or two while I was busy with the 5-10 new tools we introduce a month under the many brands we manufacture for.
Then one evening it came to me and I had to excuse myself from the dinner table and crudely draw this tool in MS paint before getting to the office the next day and working on some 3D models. The solution was a slotted pinned design that pulls a Grade 8 thread via a Grade 8 top nut, the pin keeping the assembly axially located via slots in the adapter cup so that it does not spin. The threaded rod is common slide hammer 5/8-18" pitch and the tool includes the adapter you can use in conjunction with a slide hammer.
After I finished the modeling, I sent these to Eric to let him know I may have figured it out to work with just an impact as well. His words were something along the lines of "I was totally just thinking of a design that uses a pin!" But we may never really know if that's true or not
But this isn't exactly a Flux Capacitor, it's a simple tool that pulls Subaru lower ball jointsAnd it can be found for $25-35 as of the time of this post, so while other options can be found this one won't make your wallet hurt.
