How to get a stuck ball joint out
Standard separator tools and hammer blows often fail because rust and high-pressure taper friction lock the ball joint stud inside the knuckle. This stops the suspension repair mid-job and prevents you from separating the joint without damaging the surrounding components.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Driving a chisel or wedge into the pinch bolt gap to open it
- 2Hammering the control arm down and out
- 3Using penetrating oil and an air hammer
- 4Using a heavier hammer
- 5Adding heat
- 6Using a ball joint separator tool
- 7Using two forks from different angles
- 8Hitting the side of the arm holding the joint rather than the joint itself
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Using a pickle fork and a hammer I’m getting nowhere. Tried jacking up the knuckle and hammering around but that did nothing. Not sure what else to do. Any advice?”source ↗
silveranalog · r/MechanicAdvice · 24 upvotes