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I have a 98 ford escort and I am replacing the ball joint on it and I am having a lot of trouble with one side. I have removed all of the bolts that connect the ball joint to the control arm. So as of now the old ball joint is just hanging with the joint stuck in the knuckle. I got a pickle fork and a really big hammer and beat on it for about 30 min’s and still its stuck in there. I then hosed it down with PB blaster and let it soak for a few and then tried aging and still nothing. I was wondering if any one had ideas how to get this out? The only thing I have thought of is to use my propane tourch on it and heat up the knuckle and hope it falls out.
Any ideas would be awesome!
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Heat up the knuckle in the area the ball joint goes through. I was going to say use an oxy/acetylene torch but propane might work, it just isn’t as hot and will take longer to heat the metal. The metal should expand enough for you to beat it out with the pickle fork. I don’t know if you have an air hammer but you could try and use that too. My air hammer is such that I can slide the pickle fork into it like an attachment.
Here is what I do. I don’t use a pickle fork so the boot doesn’t get cut. I instead put pressure on the the two parts with a bar like I’m prying them apart. Then I hammer on the outside part. Not the ball joint, but the part it goes in to. This upsets the tapered press fit and they pop right apart.
Honestly, I hardly ever use a pickle fork except when they really give me a hard time and I just don’t care about the boot anymore, like if I’m replacing them. When I do though I just stick it in my air hammer. Nine times out of ten I just hit what it goes through a few times and it pops out. You are right, when I do use a pickle fork the boot tends to get torn.
He is replacing the ball joint so a pickle fork is fine. If you wanted to reuse the ball joint don’t use a pickle fork. Some times on the escort if the actual ball joint fork doesnt work use the tyrod fork. The fork is closer together. I have learned in the past that balljoint forks are sometimes to wide for the smaller balljoint so you dont get the lift that you should to knock it out.
The air hammer did the trick!!!
Thanks so much for the advice! I first tried to hit on the knuckle to knock it loose but that was going really slow. Then I put the hammer on the part where the boot meets the bottom of the joint and pushed down and then hammered it and it worked like a charm! It only took maybe a minute or two and the thing feel right out!
Great advice guys!
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