Get a ball joint press or a hydraulic press?

[nitro71]

I'm asking this hear instead of the tool forum because I'm wondering how many press fit bearings or other parts there on my 93 X. Is it worth it to spend the extra and get the hydraulic press from Harbor Freight or should I just get the ball joint press. I'm doing a ball joint right now and need to go buy the tool pretty fast..

 

[nitro71]

I picked up the harbor frieght $40 ball joint press. Will see how it works.

 

[TedJ]

I did two trucks worth of ball joints and ujoints with the harbor freight one, had no problems at all even with me standing on the breaker bar attached to it. It still works like new. And check the link in my sig if you need to read some more about doing the ball joints...

 

[Anime]

There are always about 10 of those HF ball joint press tools on ebay for 99 cents, but they are used and bent..so I'd have to assume they aren't too strong.

If you take care of it though, it should last for whenever you need to do ball joints or u-joints on almost anything. Beats paying $200-300+ for the brand name ones, anyway.

 

[nitro71]

Ted, I scoped out your write up. Very in depth. Awesome job! I shoulda paid more attention to the 6mm part.. Woulda saved me some money. But I got the SOB back together and will get one of my life time alignments tommorow. The harbor freight tool worked pretty good. I think I'm going to return it though and buy a OTC I saw on ebay for $60 or so. I used my electric impact wrench to drive the joint on and off. Worked pretty slick.

 

[konstan]

Get them both!

If you are serious about working on stuff -- i.e. you are going to do more of the vehicle work yourself, get the 12 ton press from HF. Or even the 20 ton "H" frame.

I've had one for a couple of years. I've done driveshafts, PTO shaft for my mower, half-shafts for the X, and probably a bunch of other stuff that I can't think of right now.

I have not had a car to a mechanic's shop in years; the cost is ludicrous.

I also have the ball joint press and I rather prefer it for ball joints. So... I think you should have both!!!

 

[jd4242]

i would have said get the hyd press it comes in very handy and can do more than ball joint but i see you all ready got the ball joint one

 

[nitro71]

Ball joint one worked well. Was able to get the bottom joint out and pressed in without removing the upper bye reversing the tool and using the cups and whatnot. I did return the harbor freight one and will be buying the OTC off ebay when I get the money.

 

[TedJ]

I don't really think there is much of a difference between OTC and Harbor Freight tools, I've always considered OTC to be an overpriced version of the same thing HF sells.

What's your reasoning for wanting the OTC instead?

 

[nitro71]

Heard it was better quality you know. Is it the same tool? LOL!

 

[TedJ]

:scratch: They've always been the same in quality for the tools I've used. They're not necessarily made from the same mold, but the quality seems very similar.

The only difference to me is that the Harbor Freight stuff seems like a good value, while OTC feels like you've been ripped off.