advsystems

Well I'm pretty much screwed!

After being told that replacing the left front ball-joint on my 99 GS4 was a 15-20 minute affair, I eagerly embarked on the task this evening & things quickly went down-hill.

1) Several of the bolts securing the ball-joint aperture were "frozen" & I was unable to remove using a standard 17mm wrench. Had to run to OSH to buy a 1/2 6 point socket for my 1/2 wratchet.

2) After removing the bolts, I lifted the rotor assembly off of the ball-joint aperture & placed it on a support. I expected the ball-joint to simply fall out with a light tap of my rubber mallet. After several minutes of increasingly aggressive pounding, it became clear that the unit was not going to come off.

3) I re-examined the replacement part & could not see any indication as to what could possibly be preventing it from coming off, so I thought perhaps its just "stuck".

4) I placed a jack under the ball-joint assembly to stabilize it, and began tapping it with a sold hammer. Nothing.

5) WTF!?!? Now, several hours into the project, I decided to pound on the bolt sticking through the rearward hole off of the steering jack shaft. This turned out to be an incredibly stupid decision. The bolt has a hole through the center to allow for a cotter pin. My tapping with the solid hammer was strong enough to slightly pancake the bolt preventing me from threading the nut on.

So to make a long story short, when in doubt, take it to the garage as opposed to trusting sources on the internet. The car is basically immobile now unless I can figure out a way to retread the bolt. The other alternative is to order & replace the jack-shaft assembly which probably cost well over $100.

I still have no idea what could possibly be preventing the ball-joint assembly from coming out.

I'm pretty much screwed.



edited for foul language. Please do not try to get around our forum edits.

FutureGS400

I can't tell you how many times I've encountered the same scenario over the years.
Someone says "don't pay a shop, just do it yourself-it's easy!" Yeah, right!! Sorry to hear about your predicament, I wish I had the solution for you. Hope you don't have to have it flatbedded to a shop, but that may be your only choice. Good luck with it...

RON430

Don't know if you saw the posts before the site reset. To make along story short, a compressor and impact tools make life a lot easier with those frozen bolts and things have to be very far gone for a ball joint to easily come out. They are normally pressed in and out. I don't know who told you that replacing the front lower ball joint was a ten to fifteen minute job but if you are going to get into working on your car, buy the Lexus manuals for the car. They are expensive and worth every penny. I have replaced a lot of ball joints (and don't intend to do that much work anymore) but I still bought the shop manuals within a month of getting the car. You will see in the Lexus manual, like any factory manual, reference to SSTs or Special Service Tools. These are neat little tools that can make servicing really go quickly. Problem is I have never found anyone other then the dealership able to buy these things. Don't know if you can't get them through Carson Toyota or not, guess I would give Steve a call and find out. They will be very expensive and not that useful. Looks like Lexus has a SST that looks like a bearing puller that can get the ball joint out while it is still in the lower suspension arm. Barring that, if you can find an automotive machine shop in your area, take the lower suspension arm off the car and take it and your new ball joint to the shop and have them press the old joint out and the new one in.

Good luck.

SeattleGS400

iTrader: (1)

I had posted an earlier reply before the website was having issues on Friday (which deleted my original post), but you can rent a "ball joint remover" from an automotive parts store like Schuck's, Kragen , or Checkers. Usually, you have to pay for the item up front (up to $100), but once you return it, they refund your money minus a $5 rental fee (unlimited rental time). Once you get the ball joint remover, you should be set.

The ball joint removers come in 2 flavors. The first type is a wedge, and you have to ease it slowly via a mallet, and the joint pops out--this isn't the best kind. The other kind is a clamp type of device (the PREFERRED TYPE). One end goes onto the support plate that the ball joint is mounted on, and the other end has a screw that you use a ratchet to turn, which pushes on the ball joint's exposed bolt, and and pushes it out from the support bracket. That's it.

FYI, for future reference, anytime someone says it's a "15 min job" on the suspension, they're usually boasting it, so conservatively plan on spending 3-5x longer than that.

I hope it all works out for you.