struts and lca bushings

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Jul 23, 2011 | 07:42 PM

#41

Perseus

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Joined: May 2011

Posts: 160

i have a bunch of giant screw drivers, crowbars, and metal dowels that i'm trying to use but nothing's making it budge. i tried hammering and torching it and i poured fluid on it and let it sit overnight. destroyed to ball joint's boot to get a better space to work with but i have the same results.

man this job looked so easy on paper, but i guess nothing ever goes the way it should. any other suggestions besides a ball joint fork? not a fan of getting tools that only have a single, very specific purpose

Jul 23, 2011 | 07:47 PM

#42

djfrestyl

Suspension Yoda

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From: Central, NJ

You could pull the axle back, remove the brakes, and take the spindle and control arm off in one piece...then pry them apart in a vice.

Get on top of the ball joint nut and just pry downwards...it should eventually give.

Jul 23, 2011 | 08:39 PM

#43

Perseus

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are there any drawbacks to doing that/anything else i should know?

nvm it finally decided to cooperate. will start the next control arm tomorrow

Last edited by Perseus; Jul 23, 2011 at 11:11 PM.

Jul 24, 2011 | 07:20 AM

#44

jholley

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From: TN

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perseus

nvm it finally decided to cooperate. will start the next control arm tomorrow

Congrats on your LCA removal!

Well you sure got it easy. When I replaced my LCAs last year I had to remove the axle and brake. No way in hell an open end wrench could of removed that rusted castle nut on the ball joint. After grinding off the pin I used a 4' breaker bar to loosen the catle nut.

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...placement.html

Jul 24, 2011 | 06:14 PM

#45

Perseus

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Posts: 160

in the exact same position as the other lca -.- so anything i should know before i take off the breaks?

nvm again lol. realized another solution:

screw or unscrew the castle nut so that there is a slight gap between the nut and the cv joint. place a chisel, large flat head screw driver, or any other metal wedge in the gap and just start hammering. this basically does the exact same thing as a ball joint tool but in a different area (after all the ball joint tool really is just two metal wedges) this might not be the best thing to do if you're keeping the ball joint, but my castle nut and the threads on the ball joint stud seemed fine

on this frozen control arm it took less than a minute of hammering in that awkward position, with an 8 oz hammer and a bad hand(injured my knuckles last week)

Last edited by Perseus; Jul 24, 2011 at 11:33 PM.