I am trying to replace my wheel bearings and am running into a problem. I have all the bolts removed except for the lower ball joint. I cant get the bastard loose. Is there any other way to remove the hub? can i disconnect the ball joint from teh control arm or anything of the sort?

 

You have to have the knuckle and hub assembly off the car. You do understand that you have to have access to about a 5 ton press and appropriate adaptors/mandrels and such? The hub/bearing/knuckle have extremely tight interference fits.

 

i am fully aware of what is involved once i get the hub off, but that is the problem right now.

 

Do you mean you can't get the nut off the top of it, or you can't seperate the BJ from the LCA? If the latter, Just use a big pickling fork/balljoint seperator. Position it carefully so as to not rip the boot and whack it a few times with a hammer. It will come off (I've done it 4 times on each spindle).

I bought a set from an auto parts store that has various size fork ends so to fit different size balljoints/tierod ends...

 

yeah i have a picklefork to separate the joint (already used it on the tie rod) but i cant get the nut off the lower ball joint. i am looking for a way around it.

 

you have to break the nut loose before you undo the strut and everything else, so there is pressure on the balljoint and it won't rotate. Use a 6-point box-end wrench and use a larger one locked into the end as a cheater bar for leverage. Give it a good pop with your hand or a hammer and it should come loose enough. Once it's backed off partway, seperate the balljoint and you should be able to get the nut the rest of the way off.

 

You can't the nut off because it's too tight or because the ball joint shaft is turning and won't let the nut loosen? If it is either of these you are going to need an Impact wrench to get it off.

Give us more details so we can help,
Gears

 

Do i need to have the nut completely off? I got the nut backed off but the BJ spins now. I need to separate the joint from teh bottom. Do i need to remove the snap ring at the base?

 

If you have an impact you might be able to tighten the nut back up. Try to put the BJ shaft in a bind with the spindle while you are doing this so it won't spin. Then I would spray the BJ threads real good with WD40 and try to take it off again, fast with the impact. I haven't changed a ball joint on a Maxima, but most are pressed in. I don't think your going to get the BJ off from the bottom. If all this doesn't work the only thing I can think of is using Vise grips on the BJ shaft to hold it, but you will almost have to change the Ball Joint then. Use this only as a last resort!

Keep us posted,
Gears