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Lower Control Arm Nightmare

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evie1g603

10+ Year Contributor
42
1
Jun 4, 2009
Huntsville, Alabama
So I overslept today and woke up at about 12:30pm CST. I woke up and thought to myself "dammit, i gotta change that control arm before work at 7pm". So I usually don't do most of the work on my car. Small maintenance stuff, but for the most part, I don't mind paying my friend to do the work for me. So I call my friend/mechanic about 12 times....he must be asleep. So, something inside of me said to just walk over to my car (which was parked behind his apt building) and get to changing it myself. Mind you, I've never worked on a control arm before or even seen one being worked on. Nonetheless, I kept on trucking. I used my scissor jack and jacked the car up.

I laid underneath the car with my 14mm socket hoping that all the bolts were that size. (Who wants to buy me a tool box for Christmas that just passed? Lol.) So the guy comes outside and says "watcha doin trick?" I said, "I'm fixing my car." He said "With no tools?". I said "Yup!" He threw his 84 RX-7 keys at me and said "get ## ass from under the car and no get my jack and my tools.

So I got his tools and got to work. He refused to help me because he knew how much I wanted to learn to do stuff myself. Everything was going rather smoothly until I got to the ball joint. I bang at the ball joint separator for hours and I could not get it off. I cursed at my car a lot and banged my head on the frame a lil bit. Then it got cold....like 15 degrees cold plus wind. Then the sun set. So I got up and got ready for work. The rest of this horror story will continue tomorrow if the weatherman was wrong about that 2 in of snow in Alabama. In Huntsville, the cities panic when it snows. Stupid south. I miss New York.
 
If your using a pickle fork as a ball joint separator your asking for problems. Just hit the knuckle where the ball joint stud goes through and get some good penetrating oil like PB Blaster.

The stud and knuckle are both tapered so it only needs to shift slightly to come apart. The shock from hitting the surrounding metal is usually enough to break it loose if it's not rust welded together.
 
I actually didn't even get to work on it today because Alabama chooses today to be the first day in 3 years that it snows in Alabama for more than 5 minutes. And the snow actually stuck. Ugh.
 
Pleeeeze do everyone a favor and pick up some jack stands before you work on that car again!!! You should never use just a scissor jack or any jack for that matter alone to hold a vehicle up! If you can't swing for jack stands, at least throw some wood blocks under the frame so the car doesn't crush you while you're pounding on the bj. I wouldn't bother with any tool other than a hammer. A pickle fork will just tear the boot up (as previously stated). Loosen the nut on the ball joint up until it's only on there with about 5 threads or so. Then smack the lower knuckle of the spindle, and soon enough the joint will release. Keeping the nut on there just keeps it from flying apart when it releases. Soaking the bj with a good amount of blaster is going to help too. But before anything else, please go put stands or something under that car so that it doen't fall or slide off....
 
Pleeeeze do everyone a favor and pick up some jack stands before you work on that car again!!! You should never use just a scissor jack or any jack for that matter alone to hold a vehicle up! If you can't swing for jack stands, at least throw some wood blocks under the frame so the car doesn't crush you while you're pounding on the bj. I wouldn't bother with any tool other than a hammer. A pickle fork will just tear the boot up (as previously stated). Loosen the nut on the ball joint up until it's only on there with about 5 threads or so. Then smack the lower knuckle of the spindle, and soon enough the joint will release. Keeping the nut on there just keeps it from flying apart when it releases. Soaking the bj with a good amount of blaster is going to help too. But before anything else, please go put stands or something under that car so that it doen't fall or slide off....

I agree,
 
I don't like the pickle forks either. They don't always work and they almost invariably tear the ball joint boot.


This is a great little tool to have and it should work on most cars.

- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

Mitsubishi actually has it's own special tool that looks very similar. MB 991113
It's what's called for when removing any ball joint.

I'll be picking up one from harbor freight. I'm tired of fighting ball joints with the pickle fork. I almost always tear the boot.

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I use a puller.
http://z.about.com/d/autorepair/1/G/b/7/-/-/puller-2jaw.jpg
Pulled all 3 ball joints off the knuckle with it. The lower joint towards the rear is a bit of a pain in the ass though due to the knuckle configuration. It angled the puller a little bit on the stud and crushed a couple of the top threads but I'll file it down.

That ball join separator would have worked wonders though.
 
Pleeeeze do everyone a favor and pick up some jack stands before you work on that car again!!! You should never use just a scissor jack or any jack for that matter alone to hold a vehicle up! If you can't swing for jack stands, at least throw some wood blocks under the frame so the car doesn't crush you while you're pounding on the bj. I wouldn't bother with any tool other than a hammer. A pickle fork will just tear the boot up (as previously stated). Loosen the nut on the ball joint up until it's only on there with about 5 threads or so. Then smack the lower knuckle of the spindle, and soon enough the joint will release. Keeping the nut on there just keeps it from flying apart when it releases. Soaking the bj with a good amount of blaster is going to help too. But before anything else, please go put stands or something under that car so that it doen't fall or slide off....

i did use jack stands.....i wasn't plannig on doing any work while the car was on the jack. i was just looking and comparing the new part to the stock part. and i don't feel like going out and buying a new tool. i'm not fixing cars for a living...i just wanna get this damn control arm off and replace it. i shouldn't need to separate a ball joint again.
 
Chrysler tool is the same style as that one from Harbor. I bought the OE tool years ago and have never regretted it.
 
I always just use a hammer to pop the ball joints? A few good whacks on the knuckle and they just come loose. It works the same for tie rod ends too. I do them many times a week at work on many different cars and I've never once needed a fork or any special tools.
 
Mitsubishi actually has it's own special tool that looks very similar. MB 991113
It's what's called for when removing any ball joint.

I've been watching to see if the miller tool shows up on eBay as the various factory tools do from time to time.

The cast tools like the one from HF and J.C. Whitney scare me that they will shatter when your using them.
 
I used the Harbor Freight tool for my front and rear lower ball joints,no problems at all...though when they let loose they scared the hell out of me,even when I knew it was comingROFL they are loud
 
i see what ## saying...maybe later down the line. for now, i almost got it separated so i'm gonna stop using that pitch fork and just bang the rest of it out.
 
I've been watching to see if the miller tool shows up on eBay as the various factory tools do from time to time.

The cast tools like the one from HF and J.C. Whitney scare me that they will shatter when your using them.

Steve, on the box it says that it's "forged" and "heat treated". But I'm not sure if that's accurate. You can see lines from what I believe is a mold. FWIW, it looks and feels solid unlike the HF jack stands which had cracks and all kinds of irregularities.
 

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I've been a mechanic and body tech for 34 years. Had all types of factory balljoint tools at my disposal. I only remember needing to use one once. A good 2lb hammer with a long handle to keep your knuckles clear has always worked great. There are other tools I would spend my money on.
Mike
 
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