Control arm issue

[Tree-50]

Tearing down the suspension on the 68 c10 to rebuild and throw the air in, I've got everything off but the lower control arm ball joint will not separate to save my life... Are there tricks? I'm beating the hell out of that ball joint separator but the lower just won't drop down...


Any help is appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Hawghauler]

A lot of big chain parts stores are renting tools for free now. You pay for the price of the tools, and when you bring them back it's all refunded. I had to do this with my '67. I rented a ball joint puller. It also will re-install the new one. It took ten minutes after waisting a couple of hours before without it.

[Tree-50]

I was wasting hours with it! Had a tierod fork and ball joint fork. Beat the **** out of that lower one. Finally popped, that entire ball joint was just a mess, the whole UCA/LCA has about 10lbs of build up on it lol.

At the end of the day all I did differently was hit it harder.

[Kennuck]

Hit the side of the knuckle where the ball joint taper seats. A few sharp blows while the separator is in place and it will pop right off.

[Tree-50]

Originally Posted by Kennuck

Hit the side of the knuckle where the ball joint taper seats. A few sharp blows while the separator is in place and it will pop right off.

It felt the most solid hitting front of truck to back, so fork on the front side of the lca swing towards tailgate?

[tonkatrux2]

If you are putting new ones in put some heat on it. Then with hot try removing it.

[Kennuck]

Originally Posted by Tree-50

It felt the most solid hitting front of truck to back, so fork on the front side of the lca swing towards tailgate?

Put the fork in so you it's not in the way to strike the knuckle itself. Then hit the knuckle (not the fork) on the side.

[Kennuck]

Here's where to hit the bottom. Actually you don't even need the pickle fork if you support the spindle so there is no weight on the control arm. A few blows and the control arm will drop away.
Pickle forks ruin ball joint boots so this method allows you to reuse the ball joint if it is still good.

[Tree-50]

Originally Posted by Kennuck

Here's where to hit the bottom. Actually you don't even need the pickle fork if you support the spindle so there is no weight on the control arm. A few blows and the control arm will drop away.
Pickle forks ruin ball joint boots so this method allows you to reuse the ball joint if it is still good.

Ohh yeah there isn't anything left of these boots lol. Pretty sure it's original everything haha.