I'm on mobile so I can't link the picture but HF sells a ball joint puller that's between the fork and the ones you attach to a socket. This one's in the middle and uses a nut you tighten with a wrench.

I am thinking about buying it to try and save the rubber boot on the tie rod.

I've had HF tools not work before so I wanted to check here and see of anyone has used before or if the autozone rental isn't all that bad?

Thx, Ed

 

you could use an HF tool but if you only need it once there's nothing wrong with the Autozone rental.

 

Harbor Freight 'till the day I die.

 

it's called a pitman or tierod end puller. i'm guessing the HF and the autozone one is probably made in the same factory in china. i have one from autozone, just bought it after doing so many axles on my honda, and it works really well. i say rent it, if used sparingly.

btw, never EVER use the pickle fork!

 

different castings/companies but same idea and both made in china.

 

i use the autozone OEM brand pitman puller. works fine.

 

Why not just hit it with a hammer, that's what I did. I know you can possibly damage the threads, but it'll save your ball joint boot.

 

using puller properly doesnt do any harm to the ball joint boot..

 

Here's the one AZ showed me they rent

http://www.harborfreight.com/11-3-4-...ator-1740.html

And here's the one I was going to buy (then take back later ;0)

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-qua...tor-99849.html

I'm honestly not <i>too</i> worried about messing up the boot b/c odds are I'll be back soon for the upper (car is 143,000) and will probably do a lot of stuff at that point. I do miss working on my cars though!

 

autozone rents several pullers, but they arent all called the same thing.

try asking for a pitman arm or tie rod end puller.

the one LexLS used in his tutorial (but then removed when he updated with amazon links) was OEM#25297 from autozone.

 

autozone tierod end puller.

 

hit it with a hammer... not the ball joint, but a solid one or two hard hits on the arm will pop it free... don't be a wuss about it... we replace ball joints on a number of vehicles daily and NEVER use a puller to loosen the ball joint from the knuckle...

 

I bought the same one, it works perfectly. I used the fork and it damaged the boot. It was only less than 15 bucks.

 

with the cost of ucas for these cars im not taking any chances lol.

 

even with these pullers, i still use a mini sledge to shock the knuckle to break the ball joint free. never EVER hit the ball joint itself or a weaker metal like the UCA!