Impossible ball joint.

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Most of yesterday, I was trying to remove a lower ball joint from an MX5.

I have a ball joint tool, that barely gets in properly, but with a hammer, it's almost in. WD4, heat, tightening till one arm of the tool bent, but no movement.

Can anyone tell me what to do next please?

Camerart.
 
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The usual way is to thwack both sides of the joint with a hammer.....and I mean thwack it bloody hard and it should separate with a bang.
Keep the tension on with the splitter at the same time but access is more difficult of course.
Is this the bottom wisbone joint, and is it the tapered kind rather than one that is pinched up?
John :)
 
The usual way is to thwack both sides of the joint with a hammer.....and I mean thwack it bloody hard and it should separate with a bang.
Keep the tension on with the splitter at the same time but access is more difficult of course.
Is this the bottom wisbone joint, and is it the tapered kind rather than one that is pinched up?
John :)
Hi B,
Lower, tapered.

There's not much space, especially once the puller is in, so it's hard to thwack it, without a bar, so more bruises.

It would be more accesible, if I cut the body off, to separate it from the lower wishbone, and I even thought of cutting the bottom cup off and getting a stillson on it.
C.
 
This video may be some use.

Unlike the video, I don't attempt to pull rusted cotter pins out. I snap the ends off by taking nut off then tap the stub out of the peg with a tapered punch. When the new cotter goes in, plenty of grease on it.

I also curious by the fella's using the spanner open ends. The ring end is less prone to slip off.
 
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This video may be some use.

Unlike the video, I don't attempt to pull rusted cotter pins out. I snap the ends off by taking nut off then tap the stub out of the peg with a tapered punch. When the new cotter goes in, plenty of grease on it.

I also curious by the fella's using the spanner open ends. The ring end is less prone to slip off.
Hi D,
I wondered the same thing, although in the video I watched he used a ring spanner first.

I just looked up cotter pin, as the use to be for holding on bike peddles, but I found it is English. Americans call split pins cotter pins.

Thanks, C.
 
The theory of releasing these things is for the female taper in the arm to distort momentarily when hammered, allowing the join to part.
Good luck with it.....I often get annoyed with these things but I haven't been beaten to date.
John :)
 
Like track rod ends, taper joints have to be struck in a certain position to shock them loose. I would try hitting it outwards. Hitting it sideways on, front to back or the other way round will flex the bottom arm slightly which will absorb the shock. Oh, and make sure you are using a steel hammer, not too small and not a club hammer. Or a copper one!
 
it’s helpful if youve got a 4x2 or thick steel bar to lever the wishbone and tension of the anti roll bar downwards .
get someone to jump on the bar while you smack the hub with a lump hammer.
 
Are the separators like that used worth considering?

I have a fork type but that only works if the peg has a shoulder.
 
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I have a collection of ball joint splitters, on one car (Mitsubishi GTO) the only one that works is the fork splitter, unfortunately it splits the boot in the process (£20 worth).

What can you do!..
 
Hi,
Tried again today.
First I cut the rubber off to help get the cantilever in, which doesn't sit square, so failed.

The cantilever I borrowed, is a cast iron one, that is a bit too chubby, I've now bent one of the forks.

I presume the fork splitter mentioned, is what some call a pickle fork, I suspect there isn't the room for it.

There's no way I can hammer one side and anvil the other as the shape of the outer is like a hump backed bridge.

I'm guessing that the best bet is to buy a better cantilever, any suggestions please?

Regarding banging other bits: The hammer is flying past the bleed nipple, so watch out for a removing snapped off bleed nipples post. :)

C.
 
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