How to get the lower ball joint out!!!!

[CMYMUD]

I'v beat this thang to death!
Anyone got any hints.
Do I have to take the whole control arm off and put it in the vice?

[86stellar]

there must be a snap ring on the ball joint, remove that and hit it with a good weight hammer. no you dont have to remove the control arm

[CMYMUD]

I got the snap rind off. Im going to build a brace to support the arm while I'm banging.

[CMYMUD]

I made a brace out of a 4x4 piece of wood to keep it steady while I banged.
Fianlly had to heat it up a little to get it to pop out !
Not the easyest job in the world, but I'm getting it.

Installing the snap rings are a bite also

[86stellar]

glad you got it out. not the best thing to heat up the control arm but as long as you didnt go nuts with the heat you should be ok

[Jed118]

Yeah man, all it takes is a good deal of manstrength. Keep pounding until it comes out... I spent 15 minutes with a hammer, then moved to a sledgehammer on my 93 Sentra before the damn thing flew out!

[andy]

they do make a ball joint remover/installer that works wonders. It is pretty much a huge c clamp with different dies to match the size of the ball joint your working with. I'm pretty sure advanced auto parts will loan it out if you need it. hope this helps for future reference.

[Jed118]

Yes... I wish I knew that! After TRYING to put in the new balljoint by hand, I was unable to complete the task. I drove home very slowly and got a shop to press it in ($30)