Seperating ball joints from steering Knuckle

[Joe L.]

Addendum

For clarification, when I say the "uppermost one in the picture", I'm talking about the picture on the tool set (i.e. the picture that you took a picture of).

[Jim V.]

tools...

Hello Joe,

Sorry, the picture I posted of the front end service kit may have been misleading. The case shows a picture of all included tools, but doesnt show the actual tool on the top left of the picture. The actual tools on top of the case or those I chose to highlight. The actual tool on the top left is the one I used for the tie rod ends. The actual tool on the bottom center I used for the idler arm.

Joe.....is the Old Forge tool similar to the actual tool on the top left or one of the pictured tools on the case? I am very use to being confused...

Thanks

[Jim V.]

Voila....

Thanks to all you guys!!!! Things came apart with only damage to the lower ball joints. Given the aid of the downward force supplied by the coil spring, the two-hammer thing worked great on seperating the uppers ball studs from the knuckle. The lowers on the other hand, required a fork to seperate. Use of the fork rips the ball joint boot and, in at least one side, messes up the ball joint as well. BTW...the fork spread should be a little over 3/4 inch.

Also, be CAREFUL.... when you finally release the internal spring compressor between the shock tower and the spring. The spring compressor rod length of my tool was not adequate to fully unload the spring pressure in the shock tower once the spring is clear of the bottom control arm. Yes..longer is better. In the pic below, you can see I connected the lower hooks to the third rung from the bottom of the spring. This means that if you simply unscrew the compressor the spring will still carry latent force and shot downward once free of the compressor. Yep..voice of experience. Here is where the safety chain paid off!!!!! The spring compressor tool that I used has a threaded rod length from top to bottom of 12 inches. If you are going from the top of the shock tower to the third from the bottom rung, I would say you need a minimum of a 15 inch threaded rod. Of couse you could try to attach the hooks a bit further up in the spring...maybe the fourth rung from the bottom. On the down side, this will result in higher pressure build up in the tool.

BTW...not only did I use the safety chain, I also used a scissor jack under to the lower control arm as backup safety precautions. Unloading the spring via a jack is the way I would go if the motor was in the car.

Now on to...frame and engine compartment refinishing, control arm rebuild, motor rebuild, and finally re-assembly. We'll be talkin...

Regards

[Joe L.]

Re: tools...

Jim-----

The Old Forge tool is similar to the uppermost one in the picture on the box. It's not similar to ANY of the actual tools that you have pictured. None of the tools that you have pictured will usually work to remove Corvette ball joints.

I assumed that the kit contained all of the tools that are pictured on the box. However, you actually show only 3 of the tools pictured. My question is was the tool that is uppermost in the PICTURE ON THE TOOL KIT BOX not included with the kit that you borrowed?

[Jim V.]

Re: tools...

Hey Joe...Oops...I stand corrected....ALL tools pictured on the box were in the box.

However, I did successfully use the scissors like press, pictured on the top left of the box, for the tie rods. Worked great!

For the lower ball joint, I wound up using a fork which tore up the boot and mangled the ball joint a tad. I should have tried the tool which you said looked most like the Old Forge (top of picture on box).

We'll get it straight somehow...someway.. Good news is I learn something everyday I hack at the beast.

Thanks..your help and support is greatly appreciated.