Ball Joint Puller help

[DatsunZsRule]

I'm borrowing your photo drunkenmaster hope you don't mind :laugh:

Where would I be able to find a ball joint puller like this one??? I'll be doing mine on my Z soon. Can hardly wait

Thanks in advance.

[auxilary]

you're going to replace the balljoint anyway, right? get a $10 pickle fork from pepboys/autozone/etc, and pound away with the hammer to separate.

an easier method might be to flip that assembly upside down, wedge it between the vice so the knuckle is on top of the vice, and BJ below the gripping surface.

smack threaded portion with hammer.

[Ricklandia]

Jared,

I was worried about my ball joints as well, after the pounding it took to break the tie rod ends free. But I took Carls advice:

Drop the steering knuckle off with ball joint attached, remove the pin and castle nut, bolt everything back up and go at it with the pickle fork. It took a little pounding but not nearly as much as the tie rod ends. By the looks of it, mine were OEM ball joints so I was worried they were gonna be a monster to break free, but it wasn't too bad.

[drunkenmaster]

Pickle fork would be fine judging from the results had by everyone else on this forum, I couldnt find one the weekend I needed it but i saw this tool instead. The advantage of this tool is your using mechanical energy to seperate the joint rather than bashing it, but the down side is they break like mine did.

I ended up shearing the head off the bolt of that tool on the last joint it was used for, but it was nothing manipulating the broken tool (still gripped firmly to the joint) with a big hammer couldnt fix

[ezzzzzzz]

Do a web search for "ball joint separator". You'll find several suppliers (mostly british car sites) that sell this tool for about $45. It's worth it's weight in gold, especially if you're not replacing the item but just want to do a teardown for other purposes. Don't go the pickle method as it has a tendency to 'F'-up everything (boot guaranteed to be trashed)! There's always a tool to do the job right. You might also do a search in here or at Hybridz.com for this item. I posted a source some time back but can't remember which site I posted to.

[auxilary]

hybridz.org

the pickle fork method is suggested if you need to replace the balljoints anyway.

[Black Beaut]

I'm frankly amazed that you guys ever bother with the pickel fork things. I appreciate that the separators aren't the cheapest tool going but they're far from the most expensive and will save you in the long run by not unnecessarily damaging the joint boots. Right tool for the right job, I've learnt that the hard way, and will continue I'm sure

Cheers,

Rob

[zman525]

i used a pickle fork yesterday on my ball joints. These were the stock ball joints too... all rusted and stuff(never been seperated before)... anyways id try the pickle fork and if it doesnt work its a good tool to have around, ive found it has many other uses

[DatsunZsRule]

Thanks all for your replies. I'll do some more searching around for the ball joint tool.

Another question that comes to mind for all that have done this project, how did you go about aligning it after the job???? I don't have the kind of equipment at home shown in the FSM to align it in my garage so I'm guessing I'll have to run it down to an alignment shop to get it re-aligned after i complete the job which I'm not crazy about doing as I do all my own work but what can ya do?

Thanks again all.

"Ricklandia" Hopefully mine won't be too much of a pain in the a$$ :nervous: Mine are also the originals so who knows