My experience with removing ball joints (MKII)

[Sylvan]

I used a 2-jaw 5 ton puller from Autozone, $30. It looks like the one in the first picture from the original poster. It worked like a champ on all 4 ball joints, and also came in handy for my tie rod ends, and also pressing out the control arm bushings for the new Prothane ones. All in all, a very useful tool. The 20-inch breaker bar also helped to crank on that puller

[MuMan]

There is a cheap & easy way to get them out. Most purists would probably cringe, but a lot of mechanical shops do it this way. Works for any tapered seat ball joints or tie rod ends.
Do it on the car..back the nut off 4 or 5 turns, place a long bar between the lower control arm and the steering knuckle (or whatever you can get leverage on) and exert a steady force, pulling the arm (with the ball joint) away from the steering knuckle...while holding this pressure, strike the side of the lower control arm squarely opposite where the stud enters, with a decent size hammer.
What happens is the tapered hole (seat) momentarily distorts and releases the stud.
Works every time...just make sure you hit it flat and square on..once is usually all it takes if the pressure you exert is sufficient.

Bit of usless info..

[91mr2n702]

did all 4 bj in my mk2. pickle fork and leverage would not work - I spent 2 to 3 hours sledgehammering on my poor mr2. tried pitman arm puller from checkers free to rent with deposit and had them all done in about an hour.

for some reason pickle fork did not work - has worked on all hondas and other cars I have tried b4. save yourself some trouble and get the pitman arm puller

[turbomr2]

Great write up I'm gonna be doing this in the couple couple of weeks.

[mr220v]

The two jaw puller it the best for getting these things off. Lots of other pullers will work. I've even used a pickle fork before, though you do destroy the joint thats coming off.


I prefer to do balljoints along with struts. Getting the joints on and off is very easy when you don't have the pressure of the strut to contend with. Otherwise the gap has to be pulled apart and the joints finessed in.

[adrian_irwin]

Count me in on the 2 arm puller crowd. Just did all four. I was interested in reusing the old ones, so i tore the boots off and cleared away the sludge to make a larger area for the arms to grab on. From there, just twist until it pops off.

And they do let go with a bang, use a long socket/wrench when you're getting close to the end, the final one popped clean out.

[lmoua_07]

i have a question how do u know if you have a bad ball joint?? my 2 swirls left to right in the freeway does this mean i have a bad joint??

[V6'er]

Or, your toe-in might be toed out instead.

[Gairloch]

Originally Posted by lmoua_07

i have a question how do u know if you have a bad ball joint?? my 2 swirls left to right in the freeway does this mean i have a bad joint??

That could be the result of bad ball joints, worn tie rods or tired bushings.

If you jack up each corner of the car in turn then grab the wheel at 12 and 6 give it a good shake then do the same at 3 - 9. If you have movement just at 12 - 6 then it's likely ball joints. If you have movement at 3-9 then it's likely tie rods. If it's willing at both then he could be just the ball joints or both the tie rods and the ball joints.

If it's bouncing around just under cornering that can also be a symptom of blown dampers.

[cbulen]

Actually, the wheel can move due to a bad joint if you grab at 3 and 9. I know this because I just figured out (an hour ago) I had a bad joint. I removed my front wheel, and it only clunks when I grab it at 3 and 9 and shake. I can see the movement down by the ball joint. In my case, I am 100% sure its a bad ball joint as I hit a curb a couple of years ago. The joint didn't start acting up until the past 3 months. BTW, when I go over bumps it clunks and clatters a lot, so that's another indicator of a bad joint. In addition, my car gets really squirelly under heavy braking, because the toe on the front shifts due to my bad joint.

[tjmr2]

Sears Craftsman two jaw puller, guaranteed for life. Cost about $20.00 some years ago and I guarantee they are losing money on that deal. My Dodge eats em up.

No one has mentioned center drilling the stud of the old ball joint to keep the point of the two jaw in the center of the stud.

I remove the cotter key, back off the nut a couple of turns, center drill the stud, hookup the two jaw and off they come.

I do Never-Seeze the stud and threads before putting back together and use a torque wrench to tighten.

[Sylvan]

Originally Posted by tjmr2

Sears Craftsman two jaw puller, guaranteed for life. Cost about $20.00 some years ago and I guarantee they are losing money on that deal. My Dodge eats em up.

No one has mentioned center drilling the stud of the old ball joint to keep the point of the two jaw in the center of the stud.

I remove the cotter key, back off the nut a couple of turns, center drill the stud, hookup the two jaw and off they come.

I do Never-Seeze the stud and threads before putting back together and use a torque wrench to tighten.

Most of the ball joints I've worked with have the stud already notched to accomodate the point on the jaw puller.

[Jevans1137]

i am still new to MK2's and this site, i am a seasoned tech allbeit bmw's,
i am going to be replacing all 4 lower ball joints soon, my through out bearing
is making some noise, so i will just do it all at once.

my method is usefull if you have an extensive tool colection(mine is pushing 10k)
i use a air hammer with a taper punch that is small enough to just fit in the dimpel
on the end of the stud, make sure you are aligned with the stud, if you slip off
you can do serious damage, hold it tightly and hit it with a quick burst, works
great for me and does no damage if carefull.

don't forget eye protection!!!

i will post my results when i do mine, but i have no doubts, i have used this method
for years when i worked for one of those capitalistic stealerships.

[MR2-MRnot]

i did my drivers side lower in like 10 minutes! tuning fork can be rented from the zone for like $15 and wen u give it back, u get the $15 back take off the bolts, fork it, put the new one in, torque it, reassemble

[Luni]

Last time I did these, I removed the crossmember, and had to beat the crap out of them with a hammer. Finally got them beat out. I took the arm off, used a 2x4 on its side to hold it up, and just beat the CRAP out of it till it popped off.