front crossmember disassembly

[kevindtimm]

I just purchased a front crossmember and am disassembling it to clean and reinstall it on my '62 C10. I've used a pickle fork to remove the upper balljoint on one side and have hammered the hell out of the lower to no avail.

Any tips about getting this bugger apart?

[87Bob]

Did you hit the spindle on the side where the ball joint stud goes through it? Did you try a hot wrench and warm it up good?

[kevindtimm]

Haven't tried either, but they're at the top of my list

BTW, is propane a good enough hot wrench?

[slug]

i would try the hammer trick. just make sure you have the nut threaded onto the ball joint till the top of the threads are even with the end of the ball joint. that way the spring doesn't pop out and hurt anyone !!!!!

[87Bob]

Originally Posted by slug

i would try the hammer trick. just make sure you have the nut threaded onto the ball joint till the top of the threads are even with the end of the ball joint. that way the spring doesn't pop out and hurt anyone !!!!!

[87Bob]

Originally Posted by kevindtimm

Haven't tried either, but they're at the top of my list

BTW, is propane a good enough hot wrench?

I have not tried propane but the idea would be to keep the heat localized to one side. That way the hole would essentially become slightly out of round and make that side bigger so when you hit it with a hammer it should loosen up on the taper of the ball joint stud.

[kevindtimm]

Grabbed the propane torch last night and not a lick of gas left I have more bottles, but they're so well stashed it wasn't worth it to get them

I smacked the spindle HARD a few times, inserted the pickle fork and off it came!

Did the same disassembly in 30 minutes on the other side (2+ hours for the first).

Now I just have to clean it, re-bush it, new ball-joints and it will be good to go.

BTW, I was using a spring compressor, a chain through the spring and a-arm and kept the nuts attached to the ball joints throughout this procedure. Since it's sitting in the bed of my truck, I don't have any way to use the weight of the vehicle to together, uber-safety seemed a VERY wise choice.

Thanks to all for your help.