Ball Joint Help

[68_Step]

I am in the process of replacing (or trying to!) the upper and lower ball joints on my 67. I borrowed a ball joint press from O'Reilly's and had 2 problems with it. (1) the throat depth is not deep enough for it to reach to the stud, and (2) the round piece that was supposed to fit on the stud to press it out was to large in diameter, would not fit. The part that connects the upper and lower control arm was in the way.

My Haynes manual showed a homemade special tool to push out the lower ball joint out, there is a photo below of a quick version I put together - the bolt was to small for the job. It wanted to shift in the socket, may work better with a bolt closer in diameter to the inside of the socket.

After tinkering for a couple hours this afternoon I have a few questions:

Do I have to remove the brake / backing plate assembly?

How much stuff do I have to take apart to get the lower ball joint off?

Will that homemade tool in the Haynes manual work?

If I am replacing both the upper and lower, it there a "best" order do do it in? The upper is original, riveted in place.

Can anyone give me a basic step by step for pulling and replacing them?

Is there a good tutorial on the net about how to do this?

How in the heck did that much stuff get caked on in 46 years? I cleaned. scrapped, and cussed for about an hour and a half just so I could see the nuts!

[70CHEVYBB]

WOW, That looks dangerous. Put the nut back on 4 or 5 turns, than let the suspension hang. Then hit the knickle where the ball joint goes through. The spring pressuse will help pop it apart. Then take the nut off and hammer the lower ball joint out oif the control arm. you do not have to unbolt the backing plate, just take it all off at once. If you do mnot want to pull the brakeline just use some heavy wire and hang the drum/knuckle from the frame out of the way.

[lolife99]

Read this:
http://www.customclassictrucks.com/t...e/viewall.html

[Sammy]

I was replacing my spindles so I completely disassembled everything. Top one I had no issues. Removed nut n key. Drilled the rivet heads. Used an older large flat tip screw driver to put some pressure under it after some serious wacks with heavy hammer. Don't forget to support the A arm with a jack that spring will fly out of there once it lets loose. As far as cleaning can of oven cleaner at the dollar store and a quart of diesel soaking get most of it off and be your friend. (The lower joint after removing from the spindle with the fork, took it in to the parts store pressed in n out in just a few minutes.) I'm thinking from your pic you need to remove the upper first and then remove the spindle from the lower joint then your press will work fine. (Support that spring tension before you hurt yourself !) That make shift adapter you added shouldn't be needed. Joint pickle fork n your press is all you will need.

[68_Step]

Originally Posted by 70CHEVYBB

WOW, That looks dangerous. Put the nut back on 4 or 5 turns, than let the suspension hang. Then hit the knickle where the ball joint goes through. The spring pressuse will help pop it apart. Then take the nut off and hammer the lower ball joint out oif the control arm. you do not have to unbolt the backing plate, just take it all off at once. If you do mnot want to pull the brakeline just use some heavy wire and hang the drum/knuckle from the frame out of the way.

How do I take it off all once?
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[oldschool18]

leave the nuts on the ball joints just so you see about 1/4 inch of bolt, you can hit them with a hammer.....some pop loose and some you got to really beat on them. Once they pop loose put a jack under the lower control just snug dont jack it up but dont put the jack under the ball joint at the end of the control arm or you cant get ball joint out. then take nuts off..... lower one beat with big hammer if yout tool fails....most time the middle flies out first then you just tap case out, top one I grind rivits off with grinder and use a punch and hammer to knock rivits out. once there out feel the openings and make sure there are no spurs and its smooth on inside lip and underneath on bottom and on the top of the upper or the new ball joints will be hard to get in or wont sit flush if you got any a file will clean them up. you might need to jack it up to bolt back to gether.

[PanelDeland]

Here's great post on front suspension.Member See Ten did for the forum.Maybe it will help

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...light=Spindles.

[68_Step]

Originally Posted by oldschool18

leave the nuts on the ball joints just so you see about 1/4 inch of bolt, you can hit them with a hammer.....some pop loose and some you got to really beat on them. Once they pop loose put a jack under the lower control just snug dont jack it up but dont put the jack under the ball joint at the end of the control arm or you cant get ball joint out. then take nuts off..... lower one beat with big hammer if yout tool fails....most time the middle flies out first then you just tap case out, top one I grind rivits off with grinder and use a punch and hammer to knock rivits out. once there out feel the openings and make sure there are no spurs and its smooth on inside lip and underneath on bottom and on the top of the upper or the new ball joints will be hard to get in or wont sit flush if you got any a file will clean them up. you might need to jack it up to bolt back to gether.

Do you leave the brake drum assembly in place? Or remove it? Does not seems like a lot of room for hammer work. Do you use a hammer and a block of wood to put the new lower ball joint back in?

[mr48chev]

You can do either but it's about 15 to 20 lbs lighter if you take the drum off.

Then with the nuts threaded on so you have about 1/4 inch gap between the spindle and the nut hit the spindle squarely on the "SIDE" with a BIG hammer next to where the stud goes through the spindle. do both top and bottom so they pop loose and then with the lower A frame supported take the nuts off and take the spindle out and either set it on something like an upside down bucket or hang it from the frame so that the weight doesn't stretch the hose. When I was doing it all the time I had some S hooks made out of 3/8 steel rod to hang them with.

You can remove the rivets from the top ball joint with any one of a number of methods including hammer and chisel, small grinder to grind the heads off or even drill the rivet heads off. Just don't damage the A arm where the rivets went though.

You should then be able to use the ball joint press correctly to press the old ball joint out and the old on in. I should have take photos when I did mine but I forgot to.
If you run into a problem you can't figure out pm me or call me 509-314-0480 is my cell and I'll try to walk you through it. I go to bed early though so 9pm pacific time is my phone call cut off time.

[ERASER5]

I would pull the drum just to lessen the wieght. The tool you need is a Pickel Fork. Just ask for one at A-zone or whereever you shop. They will know, heck, they should have offered. Drive it between the knuckle and the A-arm. Don't be shy, put the whammy to it! Just don't hit your own knuckels! This seperates the joint. Both upper and lower.

The C-press is for removal and installation of the lower ball joint in the A-arm. The top ball joint bolts into the holes left from cutting the rivits out.

[motorcritter]

I have used a hammer held snug to one side of the knuckle, at the joint & slapped the opposite side with a Harley tool AKA bigger hammer. One serves as an anvil and helps 'squeeze' the tapered shaft out.

I still remember that trick from nearly 50 years ago!
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[68_Step]

I will be picking up a pickle fork tomorrow at O'Reillys. I already have the BFHs. Will work on it tomorrow evening, will let you know how it goes. Thanks for the help!
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[68_Step]

Are "a-arm" and "control arm" the same thing? Just making sure...
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[midniteblues]

Originally Posted by 68_Step

Are "a-arm" and "control arm" the same thing? Just making sure...
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yes they are the same thing

[lolife99]

Yes
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[68_Step]

OK, got the pickle fork and a couple BFHs. Gave it a few whacks and nothing happened and since I have not done this before I figured I better ask before I break something. Where exactly do I put the pickle fork? (be nice! ) Pics are below with captions on them. The bottom of the knuckle seems to be concave shaped, will the pickle fork just push through without breaking something?

[Lattimer]

You are doing it right.

Sometimes you have to beat the hell of them to get them to release.

[lolife99]

Put some gap between your floor jack and the lower a-arm.
(1/2" or so)

[68_Step]

Thanks everybody. I will drop the jack a bit and whack it harder tonight.

[68_Step]

I dropped the jack about 1/2 inch and gave it a few hard hits and holy crap, it separated from the spindle! Everybody was right, don't be shy with the whacks! Now a couple more questions:

Do I use the pickle fork to seperate the upper ball joint from the spindle in the same way?

Once the upper and lower ball joints are both separated from the spindle, how do I remove the spindle and brake hub assembly? Do I lower the jack a bit to let the lower control arm drop so the spindle / brake assembly can slide out? Thanks again!
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[PanelDeland]

Before you take the nut off the lower,turn the wheel all the way over so you can get to the upper and just whack the crap out of the spindle there.It should come loose.Then support the lower CA with the jack,remove the nuts and lower the jack slowly.Yu can put a chain thru the CA and spring and bolt it together for safety.Then just lower the jack.The spindle will fall out of the top and you can lift it out of the bottom.Make sure to disconnect the brake line.

[ERASER5]

^ other wise, yes, use the pickel fork the same way on top. Panel's way is fast "If" it works. Some do, some don't. Again, don't be shy, wail on it! You would be suprised how well a well placed 20 lb sledge blow works.

[68_Step]

OK, I am couple steps further along. Tonight I got the upper and lower ball joints (passenger side) out. The upper is in and just snugged down, but I have a question about the lower ball joint before I install it.

It is a Moog #K6023. It is similar, but not exactly like the one being replaced. It is a bit taller, but I think that extra height is in the threads, to accept a slightly taller castle nut. I calipered both and they are within 1 thousandth of an inch in across the part that seats in the control arm (1.972).

Do I have the correct part? Pics below, old ball joint and castle nut on left, new on right.

[lolife99]

Looks fine to me,...

[68_Step]

This past weekend I got the upper and lower ball joints in. I have not put the spindles back on yet, I have decided to go ahead and replace the front and rear coil springs and shocks. More about that on another post! Thanks for all the help. All advice was great and appreciated, but there were a few gems that only experience can tell you about and helped me a LOT.

Originally Posted by 70CHEVYBB

WOW, That looks dangerous. Put the nut back on 4 or 5 turns, than let the suspension hang.

I put the Haynes manual special tool away and bought a pickle fork. Thanks for saving me a trip to the ER

Originally Posted by mr48chev

You can do either but it's about 15 to 20 lbs lighter if you take the drum off. If you run into a problem you can't figure out pm me or call me 509-(# deleted by John) is my cell and I'll try to walk you through it. I go to bed early though so 9pm pacific time is my phone call cut off time.

I took the spindle off and the ball joint press fit much better! I did not have to call, but wow... thanks for the offer! That is one of the great things about this forum.

Originally Posted by lolife99

Put some gap between your floor jack and the lower a-arm. (1/2" or so)

Worked like a charm, a few hard whacks with the 3lb sledge and off it came.

Originally Posted by PanelDeland

Then just lower the jack.The spindle will fall out of the top and you can lift it out of the bottom.Make sure to disconnect the brake line.

I was wondering about that...

Thanks again for helping me walk (stumble) through it!