Please help!

[1969Chev]

So i have tried twice now to lower my front end a little bit. I have gotten to the point of unbolting my wheels, sway bar and the shocks. I took the king pin out and loosened the castle nut and wacked the lower control arm with a hammer and nothing. Then I bought a pickle fork and still nothing. So my last try on trying to pop the ball joint loose was using a scissor jack and all that did was break the jack. Does anyone have any suggestions or anything? Anything helps! thanks!

[LockDoc]

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I think I would bolt everything back together and do a LOT more reading before I tried anything else. If you don't know what you are doing and don't have things secured the spring could come out of there and eat you alive when the ball joint comes loose. You don't say if you have a spring compressor on the spring or not, or a jack under the lower control arm, but the way you are approaching it sounds a little scary.

Use the GOOGLE search box at the top of this page. and type in "replace ball joints". Click on the circle in front of "67-72chevytrucks.com" and click on the GOOGLE button. Just make sure the thread you are looking at refers to your style of truck. (Hits will include all years)

LockDoc

[undertaker72]

like lockdoc is saying , you are dealing with a loaded bomb , that spring has massive pressure under load , , use the proper tools and get your self a manual or read on computer, it is not as hard as you are making it , you will get a little sweaty and irritated , but it will pop loose and you don't want to get on the receiving end of the spring , sometimes I even lace a small chain around from the rear of fram to the front , so it stays inward good luck and read up this site is a wealth of knowledge

[old Chevy guy]

Once your sure you have that spring under control instead of hitting the lower control arm down(that trick never works) hit the side of the loop that the stud from the lower ball joint comes through. Hit it on the side with a BFH. one or two shots usually gets it. I almost never use a fork. If that's not clear Ill try and explain it better.

[tcrist]

Put your truck on jack stands, put a floor jack under the lower control arm and raise it up until the whole truck wants to lift off of the stands. Don't lift it off of the stands, just until it wants to.

Loosen the upper ball joint nut until you have about 1/4" gap between the upper control arm and the bottom of the ball joint nut.

Then take a BFH and hit on the upper ball joint nut. That should break the upper ball joint away from the control arm. Loosen the upper ball joint nut until it is flush or just above the top of the ball joint stem.

Lower the floor jack slowly until you get some pressure off of the spring.

You could strap the spring to the frame before starting all of this if it would make you feel that would be safer and it is probably a good idea anyway.

That is how I have always done it and it has worked so far.

[1969Chev]

Thanks guys. And i have taken safety precautions. I didnt feel the need to add that i had it on stands and had a jack under the lower control arm, i was just trying to get to the point.

[BigMike]

Here are the spots you want to focus the blows with a mini-sledge. A couple hard whacks and they should pop right out. The ball joints hit whichever side you can get the best shot in, where marked or the opposite side. For the tie rod, it is better to hit towards the spindle itself to get a more solid hit.

Hope this helps.

Attachment 1268886

[1969Chev]

I got them done guys. it is sitting nice and low in the front now. i already had lowered springs in the front, but they werent low enough to me. i cut a coil out and it dropped a little over a couple inches. BUt my problem now is that the metal bump stop on top of the lower control arm is hitting the top of were the spring sits every bump i go over. I was thinking of just cutting it out. any suggestions? Oh and how do i post pictures to this site?

[1969Chev]

here is some before and after pics

[volksworld]

thats why lowered spindles are better cause the suspension geometry stays closer to stock and you dont have to mess with stuff like this....but you have to do what you have do to achieve the look you want...you may be able to cut the rubber down with a hacksaw to get a little more travel without actually removing it...depends how low you are