Stupid lower ball joint!!

[vikingsandpintos]

Gotta love when a simple project takes all day... And today was MY day! lol

Got my daughters 67 C10 in the garage, have lots of upgrades, ect to do this winter so she can drive it this summer, she is just getting her license, and wanted this as her first car. But first, I am upgrading brakes, steering, ect.

Anyway, started on the first project today.... Changing the front drum brakes to disc! Bought the conversion kit, figured I would start disassembly on the old brakes today....

Got the cotter pins off, and loosened the castle nuts on the tie rod, and upper and lower ball joints on the driver side (Just doing 1 side at a time). Popped the tie rod off, no problem. Same with the upper ball joint, popped with a couple of smacks. Then came the lower ball joint.....

Hit it a few times with a hammer.. Nothing. Bigger hammer, nothing still. Took a break, then beat it like it owed me money, nothing. Took a good look at the spindle, ect, to make sure there wasn't something I was missing, as I haven't done a ball joint on one of these trucks (I have on lots of other cars, but not one of these). Saw the bolts going thru the spindle and steering arm, and thought maybe they also pinch shut the spindle or something, and decided they might as well come out.

Take the dust cap, nut, and outer wheel bearing off. Try to take the drum off, and it's stuck on the shoes. Beat and pry for an hour, cannot get it off. Seems as all this is getting tossed, I figure to torch the heads of the little pins that hold the shoes to the backing plate. Do it, and drum still won't come off. The top at the wheel cylinder won't come off. More beating and prying, nothing. Getting mad now, I decide, screw this drum and torch it open at the top, so I can get to the springs. End up cutting the heck out of anything I can see till the drum comes off!

Now, I take the bolts off that hold the steering arm onto the spindle, and can see that none of this is helping or needed, as it is just a normal ball joint setup. More beating on the spindle, nothing. Pickle forks, different sizes, nothing. Air chisel with a pickle fork end, nothing... Decide to heat the spindle, then beat on it, STILL nothing....

By now, I am beyond frustrated. Decide to cut the stupid ball joint stud with the torch, so I can at least get the darn spindle off. Just start cutting it, about 1/2 way thru, and run out of O2 in the torch.... REALLY?! Break out the sawzall, and 2 blades later, spindle is off!

And that is where I stop for the day. At least the spindle is off, and "Most" of the lower ball joint. Maybe tomorrow I will press the rest out, and grind the rivets on the top one. About 4 hours into it today, I've had enough! lol

Some days things just want to fight, and today was that day... I hope the truck doesn't do this to me on ALL my projects!