Damned ball joints. Larger width separators out there?

[a_gunslinger]

Have a 2009 Honda Pilot Im trying to get the God d$m#d lower control arm ball joint off to replace the LCA bushing. And it will not go. I have tried the "shock and awe" approach (big hammer banging on knuckle) - no luck. Banged long enough with 5# sledge I just dont think its going to go that way, and dont want to damage anything. Dont want to use fork because the ball joint is in good shape and integrated into the LCA, and dont want to damage boo or ball joint. I have never encountered one this difficult.

All the joint separators from harbor freight, rentable from AutoZone, etc are too small. Largest being 7/8". Looked at Honda Pilot service manual and they, of course, use a special service tool joint separator that is 1.25" wide, so Im looking at a 1.25" ball joint post. Yikes. Not really finding much online for that sized tool. Is the Honda pilot with a 1.25" ball joint shaft that unusual that I cant find a larger separator locally? One online, just surprised its that unusal.

Amazon 32 MM

Thanks for any info, and letting me vent.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Man, that car is super clean.

One needs to be very careful with ball joints/tie rods with cotter pin holes. Separators can crush the threads due to the lack of mass in that area. What you posted looks like a toy frankly.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X1LESRQ/?tag=atomicindus08-20

You can put some force through this guy. ^ But if you crank it up to 11 it will smash the threads at the tip of the joint.


Being that the vehicle is super clean, I'd suggest another path. Remove the axle nut and knock the axle shaft loose. You will need a way to properly retorque this BTW. Remove brakes and ABS sensor, or just unplug it and let is stay stuck to the knuckle. Remove the tie rod, and the two strut bolts. NOW you can tilt and wiggle the knuckle around to whack it with a hammer to jar it loose. Worst option, you can just leave it stuck to the knuckle and remove to swap the bushing as one giant piece.

I imagine you're going this on jack stands or similar? Ideally one just loosens the axle nut, and swings the whole chunk of knuckle and lower control arm out 10 inches to swap the bushing.

 

[Al Borland]

Put the nut back on, with about an 1/8" of space. Let the spring/strut put some load in it. Air hammer with a BLUNT tip on the side of the spindle, just vibrating it, not killing it. Should pop. Use a jack to take the load off, remove the nut.

 

[Wrench97]

Like 2GR said leave the ball joint and pull the axle and LCA bolts to get it out far enough to swap the bushings.

 

[Super90]

This tool has popped loose joints like a champ. My others don't work anywhere nearly as well.

OEMTOOLS 25219 Hydraulic Ram Safe & Easy Ball Joint Separator

 

[theoldwizard1]

Put the nut back on, with about an 1/8" of space. Let the spring/strut put some load in it. Air hammer with a BLUNT tip on the side of the spindle, just vibrating it, not killing it. Should pop. Use a jack to take the load off, remove the nut.

Skip the air hammer. Use a BMFH ! Should only take 3 or 4 good blows.

 

[Speed-Racer]

2nd to recommend using an air hammer.

 

[setfocus]

Pickle fork it and replace the whole arm.

If the bushing went bad, I'm sure the BJ isn't far behind and that BJ isn't serviceable, so if the joint goes... you'll be replacing the arm, including the new bushing, anyway. That's my 2 cents

 

[qqzj]

Pickle fork it and replace the whole arm.

If the bushing went bad, I'm sure the BJ isn't far behind and that BJ isn't serviceable, so if the joint goes... you'll be replacing the arm, including the new bushing, anyway. That's my 2 cents

2nd this!

If you really just want the BJ off. Do this. First clean up the area really good with brake cleaner. Then use pick to remove any junk near the relevant area. Finally use a floor jack to jack up the arm. Put a block of wood on the jack tray. Make the BJ go straight up and down, then hammer it. Sometimes, it got stuck because it is straight and suspension put some forces.

 

[qqzj]

Not straight

 

[a_gunslinger]

Thanks for all the replies. I was going to apply them all in order of complexity for DIYer working off driveway, and cost (buying air hammers an BMHS, etc). All of them great ideas. I started with the larger BJ separator off Amazon since the ones borrowed from Auto Zone too narrow in the throat. UTMALL 32mm Ball Joint Separator Tie Rod End Removal Puller for Audi Benz Mazda

It worked. But I believe all these suggestions would have worked, and will help future BJ sufferers!

 

[a_gunslinger]

Man, that car is super clean.

One needs to be very careful with ball joints/tie rods with cotter pin holes. Separators can crush the threads due to the lack of mass in that area. What you posted looks like a toy frankly.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X1LESRQ/?tag=atomicindus08-20

You can put some force through this guy. ^ But if you crank it up to 11 it will smash the threads at the tip of the joint.


Being that the vehicle is super clean, I'd suggest another path. Remove the axle nut and knock the axle shaft loose. You will need a way to properly retorque this BTW. Remove brakes and ABS sensor, or just unplug it and let is stay stuck to the knuckle. Remove the tie rod, and the two strut bolts. NOW you can tilt and wiggle the knuckle around to whack it with a hammer to jar it loose. Worst option, you can just leave it stuck to the knuckle and remove to swap the bushing as one giant piece.

I imagine you're going this on jack stands or similar? Ideally one just loosens the axle nut, and swings the whole chunk of knuckle and lower control arm out 10 inches to swap the bushing.

I was suspect at the quality, turned out to be fairly beefy tool. My next step was swinging the axel out and leaving LCA and BJ in place. The bushing swap would have been a bit tricky on ground crammed in wheel well.

 

[a_gunslinger]

Put the nut back on, with about an 1/8" of space. Let the spring/strut put some load in it. Air hammer with a BLUNT tip on the side of the spindle, just vibrating it, not killing it. Should pop. Use a jack to take the load off, remove the nut.

I asked a couple neighbors if they had an air hammer, no luck. Definitely need to invest in one for sure.

 

[a_gunslinger]

Skip the air hammer. Use a BMFH ! Should only take 3 or 4 good blows.

BMFH tricky in that tight space working off jacks. I used a 3# and 10# sledge, no luck. Got a little unwieldy with 10# in that tight space. On a lift I think she would have popped quickly.

 

[a_gunslinger]

2nd this!

If you really just want the BJ off. Do this. First clean up the area really good with brake cleaner. Then use pick to remove any junk near the relevant area. Finally use a floor jack to jack up the arm. Put a block of wood on the jack tray. Make the BJ go straight up and down, then hammer it. Sometimes, it got stuck because it is straight and suspension put some forces.

I think this was part of my problem using hammer approach.

 

[a_gunslinger]

Pickle fork it and replace the whole arm.

If the bushing went bad, I'm sure the BJ isn't far behind and that BJ isn't serviceable, so if the joint goes... you'll be replacing the arm, including the new bushing, anyway. That's my 2 cents

These were recalled bushings Honda used. The problem was the family member that gave us this Pilot either ignored or didnt understand the letters they received from Honda offering free replacement =^/ Honda even extended the recall offer, and they still never responded. So when given to me they were way toast, and way too late to get Honda to replace (although I tried). The LCA and BJ are in great shape.

 

[Ign]

On a 4runner my issue was not width between forks but overall thickness. I had to add sq stock to increase the "wedge factor"

 

[Flared Base]

I used the Bolt Buster and heated the knuckle until the ball joint fell out when I did control arms on my car. It had the same orientation of the ball joint in the knuckle and had the same clearance issues because of the CV shaft as you show. I wrapped the flexible coil around the knuckle and used to IR thermometer to make sure things didn't get too out of hand. After about 10 seconds and the knuckle getting to about 270F peak, the ball joint fell out of the knuckle since I already had the rest of the control arms unbolted from the car.

Pros: No beating on parts and causing damage. 270F should be fine for steel knuckles for the few seconds that it took to separate. The mass of the knuckle cooled it enough to touch comfortably in about a minute.

Cons: Bolt Buster isn't exactly cheap.