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Need advice on stuck ball joints

5K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  KBentley57 
#1 ·
Hey guys,

I've fallen victim to the ball joint issue after 75k on my 09 SXT. It's the passenger side lower control arm. I bought a replacement arm, and I'm having some issues removing the original. I've removed the two back bolts, the vertical and horizontal ones with not problem. The spindle bolt and ball joint is giving me the demons.

I can't seem to remove the pinch bolt - it reaches a point where it spins but does not back out. I can shine a light into the space of the pinch and see some shiny, I hope I haven't stripped it! I thought that since I loosened up to the point where it no longer turned that I should be able to get the ball joint out, but it's been no luck so far. I've used a pickle fork, beaten the heck out of it, and tried to pry on everything under the sun.

I've got it to the point that the fork I am using is all the way against spindle of the ball joint itself. I've got one idea left, which is to place the fork in the joint, and use a jack on the other end, but I don't feel like it should be this hard, and I don't want to force it. I've considered taking off the whole spindle/LCA combo and taking it to a machine shop to let them get it out.

Any ideas?
 
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#3 ·
Just to report back, I manged to work everything out ok. I sprayed some pb blaster on, let set for a while and came back. After a few good hits, it came right off. The bolt actually backed out pretty easily, i feel dumb for not pushing it out to begin with. The arm came with a new one anyhow. The new arm also came fitted with a grease zerk in the ball joint, so that's a bonus.

Chris, thanks for the advice. After I replaced the arm, I don't feel any more play, and I notice how it used to feel on the entry into a turn. I'll keep it in mind for the driver side though!
 
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