Cheap alternative ball joint press

[Torqline87]

About had it trying to fenagle my clamp style ball joint press so i figured something out the night before the job after a few cold ones...

 

[Torqline87]

Harbor freight racing aluminum jack and pinion socket with a dead blow works pretty effectively. saved about 20 minutes per side.

 

[e30bradley]

That won't always work..

 

[Jswain]

Especially when the hole in the control arm gets messed up from beating a stuck one out. I do agree though the clamp style is super annoying to line up by yourself

 

[Murphy4570]

That method won't work for really stubborn ones. You'll just end up lifting the whole damn vehicle up.

Glad to see you got the job done though. Balljoints are always a PITA.

 

[Torqline87]

I do agree with you guys, from doing kingpins on Heavy duty winch trucks in the oilfields to small ball joints on these f150s in the gulf, I usually torch out the center of the ball joint when they are seized up and do a pretty good job of cleaning the ball joint bore with my fine paper die grinder. works pretty good and the ball joints usually pop right in. Been doing a ton here in the gulf and when my clamp struggles to get em out i just torch the center of the ball joint at and it usually pops out with ease. Hope that info helps

 

[platform389]

About had it trying to fenagle my clamp style ball joint press so i figured something out the night before the job after a few cold ones...

You are lucky. Members of the 200,000+ mile ball joint club would laugh at you. They are very happy where they are and require much more effort to remove.