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Ball Joint Stuck


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#16 RustyAutoCityE

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Posted 20 March 2020 - 07:54 PM

The fork type are naff in my experience. I've got one in the garage that's bent to b*ggery from the last time it failed to separate a ball joint. Good paperweight.

I've never used the scissor type. Why are mini ball joints so hard to separate anyway? They're only little. A good tap on the arm and some heat has always worked on all sorts of cars for me, with much bigger bits.

 

I have had the opposite experience, I had a stuck ball joint that the scissor type wouldn't budge not matter what I did. Brought one of the "pickle forks" and got the job done (does ruin the rubber dust cover mind you, so wouldn't recommend if you are planning to re-use).



#17 gazza82

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Posted 20 March 2020 - 08:00 PM

Get the ball-joint remover on and tighten it then hit the arm on both sides at the same time with two hammers .. clap rather than tap .. often works.

#18 mini-mad-mark

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Posted 20 March 2020 - 10:17 PM

If you are going to use heat, just warm the arm, don't heat it to the point where there's any colour change.

 

If you are finding that when thumping the Pin the whole arm moves down, slip the lower ball joint in, and if you have Hilios, let that one off, then jack under the hub to raise the arm. Remove the Rebound Stop (the small L shaped one) and fit a packer in here, then let the jack off being careful your packer doesn't slip out. This should give the arm a solid base to sit on to pound away at the pin with.

 

On the odd Ball Joint Pin I come across that is stuck, I have nearly always had success with loading up the Pin with the (scissor type) seperator, and then hitting the seperator over the B/J Pin. 

 

+1 for this - No idea why it helps but it does

 

Also hitting the arm socket itself works - hold a lump hammer on one side and whack the other with a decent sized hammer (probably not a great way but it might help you)

 

I used to help my old man with his minis (vans mainly) and he always did it this way as he never had the proper tools for any jobs - too skint/poor to buy them or maybe he just never knew what the proper tool was?



#19 cal844

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Posted 20 March 2020 - 11:00 PM

The amount of those cheap cast fork type separators I've snapped is unreal. Now I have a long handled steel one that works perfectly every time. We've never had a ball joint that's stuck. Top tip is to free the bottom balljoint first , then the top as you may well need to refit the bottom one to help pull the top joint apart.

#20 AP2020

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Posted 20 March 2020 - 11:55 PM

Hammer won't work as the arm will move with the strikes

 

Yes it will work, but you would need to use a heavy solid mass on the opposite side.  



#21 Steve220

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Posted 21 March 2020 - 09:27 AM

Sod getting a fancy fork, heat it! I've never used one on any mini ball joint. 10 seconds from a blow torch and it drops out.

#22 AP2020

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Posted 23 March 2020 - 12:42 AM

What ever you do never hit the actual pin as it will deform and wedge in the taper even harder or burr over and then create more work.

 

Using a steel block or similar and a hammer a sharp tap on the side of the arm adjacent to the pin taper hole will normally pop it off






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