What did you guys use to remove your ball joints when changing struts? I went to AutoZone and they have 2 different size pitarm pullers which I know some have used and they also rent a ball joint press which looks like a C clamp. I have heard the Pickle Fork work for some but tear the hell out of the boot.

I'm not sure what would be the best/safest to use without tearing the boot, I need to reuse the LCA's and UCA's for a few more months before I replace them.

Any recommendations?

Hear is the BallJoint Press which I can rent



This is the bigger Pitarm Puller and the second picture is the samething just smaller

 

You can't just remove the balljoints and replace them easily on our LCA. It requires a lot more work than using that tool from what I've been told.

 

you do not need to remove ball joints when replacing struts!!!!

just disconnect the upper arm

 

HMMM I was under the impression that not removing the upper ball joint and just the other half from the suspension causes the ball joint to be damaged.

Actually you cant change out the balljoint on our LCA or UCA's the whole arm needs to be replaced, but I'm not trying to change the balljoint. What I'm trying to do is remove it from the knuckle, but after reading 92blacktt's response I'm wondering if I even need to do that.

 

not true at all...I wouldn't listen to the advice of someone who would tell you such a thing

 

Well then I like that lol. Did you change your struts? How bad was the rears?

 

I installed the gixxer-drew coilover setup. Pretty easy.

I would say 4 hours with a buddy. (the hardest part is the sway bar end links...that bloody ****en bolt keeps spinning)

 

LOL, I heard that bolt was a PIA. Well for most of it I will be on my own, until my buddy gets out of work, but hopefully I will be done with most of it by that time. Atleast he weighs 320lbs so if I need him to stand on suspension I'm sure it will move lol.

So just unbolt the upper control arm from the assembly and secure it with some rope and just remove the strut?

I'm so glad I bought the Hydraulic spring compressor from harbor freight that will save tons of time.

 

i did it myself, the whole car took 6 hours...but im very easily distracted when im working by myself.

hydralic spring compressor will only save u a minute per spring over the standard spring compressors.

get an impact wrench..that will save u serious time!

 

See I work MUCH better on my own, I have very little patience for others when they get in my way or do something differently than I would...........I'm better off on my own.

When I did my dads struts the spring compress I had was a royal PIA so I had a $100 GC to Harbor Frieght so I decided the hydraulic is the way to go and it is one of the few tools I dont have . I have a 300lb electric Impact wrench.

 

what i did was get the spring compressors with 19mm stud ends. Then I used the impact wrench on the spring compressor

 

I used these 2 on my dads struts and the is was a PAI, although the big clap style one worked MUCH better than the 2 piece.





This is the one I just recently purchased




I always wonder why in the manual it tells you not to use and impact wrench?

 

I'm curious did you remove the caliper as the Manual says?

 

The end links have a female hex end! That pretty much eliminates the spinning. Box end and Allen wrench=five minutes.

 

Well that was one of the most frustrating times of recent memory lol. So I got my boots and bumpers in from RockAuto today and I started to replace my struts. Once I EVERYTHING off of the front drivers side I put the new bumper on and guess what...........................IT THE WRONG FREAKING ONE!!!! RockAuto sent me the boots so now I already have everything apart so I decided to make a temporary Stop from 2" round solid rubber until I can get new boots and stops.

I called EVERY garage, store etc and every place has to order them. Now to make matters even more annoying I noticed that my Lower ball joint and Tire Rod are leaking grease along with my caliper dragging.............I just cant freaking win .

It time for me to have a case of Corona.