passengers front upper ball joint will not release from the knuckle (2002 XLT v8 4WD)

[LMHmedchem]

Hello,

Today I was in the process of removing the passengers front knuckle to do a list of maintenance and ran into a problem. The axle nut, outer tie rod end nut, and both upper and lower ball joint nuts came of pretty easily. I applied PB ahead of time as I knew I would be doing this and I also test loosened everything the other day before wading in. The caliper came of easily as well.

The problem is that I just can't get the bolt on the upper ball joint to release from the knuckle. It just won't pop out. I have tapped and banged on the knuckle with a 5lb hammer and it just seems jammed in there. I can easily rotate the knuckle around the bolt and the upper control arm goes up and down as it should. I would expect the weight of the lower control arm and knuckle to pull out from the bolt pretty easily. I tried banging up on the control arm. I put the nut back on the bolt and tried banging up on the bolt. I jacked up under the lower control arm and then released the jack several times. I put a length of 2x4 under the upper control arm near the ball joint and jacked on the bottom of the board to lift the arm. This lifted the truck off of the jack stands but did not free the ball joint, even with allot of hammering. I hammered down on the knuckle in several places but nothing seems to free the bolt.

I really need to get this off to continue. I don't know that the lower ball joint is any better but I can't tell until I get the upper loose. This control arm and ball joint are newer then the drivers side so I wasn't planning on replacing it.

Is it possible to remove the upper control arm with it still attached to the knuckle? I am skeptical but I could give that a try. Maybe I would have better luck with the knuckle out. At least I could use a bigger hammer, or a grinder.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I don't know if pictures would help but let me know if there is anything you want to see.

LMHmedchem

 

[drdoom]

A member once posted to use two hammers, in opposition, and whack the knuckle on both sides of the ball joint stud simultaneously. "Never fails" I believe was the term used...

 

[drdoom]

And of course if you have a ball joint removal tool, or the old pickle fork if rough & ready passes.

 

[LMHmedchem]

"Never fails" I believe was the term used...

Famous last words. I have two 5lb hammers so I guess there's no harm in trying.

And of course if you have a ball joint removal tool, or the old pickle fork if rough & ready passes.

I do have a ball joint removal tool but it's too small.

Today I tightened up the nuts on the bushings at the ends of the UCA. They were very loose, which is odd. I put the nut back on the ball joint and banged up on it with a 5lb hammer and it finally popped out. I don't know if it was tightening up the bushings, PB over several days, or just hitting it harder, but it did come out. The ball joint still looks like it's in good enough shape to use.

Now I can't get the knuckle off of the bottom ball joint.

I may have to go get a bigger separator tool. It seems like there is already too much room between the bottom of the knuckle and the LCA for a pickle fork to do much of anything. Tomorrow I may try putting the jack on the bolt for the lower ball joint and pressing up. If I brace the knuckle or UCA, I can put the whole weight of the truck on the bolt. I will have the CV axle out of the way before trying that in case you are wondering.

Speaking of the CV axle... I pulled out the CV axle after getting the upper ball joint disconnected. I was planning to remove the knuckle and I wanted to get the axle it out of the way. It also needs a bit of attention so I was going to bring it inside. When I separated it from the front differential, I pulled out a very long metal shaft, where I was expecting only a short piece as pictured here,

MOTORCRAFT TX456 CV Axle Shaft Assembly

I assume that something is supposed to disconnect between the CV axle and whatever I pulled out. I slid everything back in since I wasn't sure what I was looking at. It wouldn't come all the way out anyway, there wasn't enough room to get it past the strut, even with the sway bar link removed.

I guess I need to know if I have created another problem by pulling that shaft out of the front differential. Everything seemed to go back together. Next time I will see if I can get the CV axle to separate from whatever the longer shaft was. Is there a seal there that I should replace or should I just shove it back together?

LMHmedchem

 

[LMHmedchem]

Well they finally had pickle forks back in stock at my local Harbor Freight and that did the trick for the lower ball joint (along with a 5lb hammer). I have 2 more expensive ball joint separator tools, but neither of them fit.

PB/simple tool/big hammer seems to get the job done.

This time when I pulled out the CV axle, only the end piece came out as I was expecting the first time. Does anyone think there will be an issue there when I put it all back together, meaning the fact that I pulled something out of the differential and had to stick it back in?

LMHmedchem