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Control arm install

AzPete

AzPete

Well-Known Member
I must say, I think I abused Midlife on Monday. We did the upper and lower control arms on my '66. Some of the ball joints were a bit tough. Lost one pickle for to battle damage and several fingers and hands. Long day but we got Opentrackers street arms in place. We ran out of time on the alignment so I ran it thru a local shop. The old crate really drives nice now. Just have to clean the floor under the lift. The under side of my car is far from spotless although closer now. We left a bunch on the floor.

Opentrackers street arms are good stuff.

I will say, the Black Wattles sure came in handy at the end of the day. Thanks for the help Midlife.
 
Any time...It's always enjoyable seeing someone else swear for a while. :pop

There's got to be a better way than pickle forks. We even tried beating on the spindle with no success. Isn't there a ball joint puller like a pitman arm puller?
 
Is that beer really that good? I usually find Australian beer kinda bitter and I cant afford bitter beer face...... :boo
 
I would say it has a slight bitter taste but by no means a bitter beer face situation. It is different than any other beer I have tried.
 
Ball joint splitter? :rofl How amateurish.

In the biz we just leave the nut loose on the joint(not to smack on but to protect the threads in case of missfire) and smack the knuckle with a bfh. Usually pops it lose on the first hit, almost always on the second.

Maybe I should post a video.
 
leave the nut loose on the joint(not to smack on but to protect the threads in case of missfire) and smack the knuckle with a bfh. Usually pops it lose on the first hit, almost always on the second.
Click to expand...

That's exactly how I do it....
 
Well, it don't always work......we had the BFH, plenty of smacking, no ball joints moving. We tried every angle and pressure with the smacks. The lower passenger side was a real pain. The drivers lower was not to bad. Anyway, no more of them for a long time now.
 
When you say "smack it on the knuckle", you do mean the spindle and not the protruding ball joint, correct? We were using a 5# sledge with plenty of force. Just ask Pete about his blackNblue marks!
 
Yeah.

It's not all in the hammer. It's in the angle of the dangle. Nice flush dead blows do it every time.
 
We had every angle covered, including locating my hand between the hammer and a solid piece of steel. At least the hand works still. We just missed the perfect one.
 
Getting the hand between the hammer and the subject only dampens the effect. I in no way recommend this practice.

Think safety when swinging a hammer. One hand on the hammer and one shielding the johnson.(regardless where it is in relation to the subject) You never know where a glancing blow may end up.
 
Yes, I know it works...most of the time. It just didn't on a couple in my car. We did think of the blasting though. Mid likes his garage to much for that.
 
Hi guys, I built one of these ball joint removal tools as found on the bottom of this page http://dazed.home.bresnan.net/spring I have used it on a few occasions and it has worked great along with a bonk to the spindle with a BFH.
jointtool.jpg
I enjoy the site!
 
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Think safety when swinging a hammer. One hand on the hammer and one shielding the johnson.(regardless where it is in relation to the subject) You never know where a glancing blow may end up.
Click to expand...

LMAO....

About 7 years back I was driving 14" spikes into railroad ties. I learned later to pre-drill the holes, but at the time I was working "harder" not "smarter". So here I am outside.... a light rain has been falling all day and I'm pretty much soaked to the bone and miserable to begin with driving these spikes all of the way into a couple of RR ties every 16 inches. I was on about spike number 5 when the combination of the wet grip on the large framing hammer and the muscles in my swinging arm produced a "clean miss" of not only the head of the nail, but the surface of the RR tie also. The resulting momentum carried the head of the hammer directly into my right shin-bone just below the knee-cap.

Remember the 3 Stooges? Remember the "Curly Shuffle"? I squirmed around in the mud for a good 10 minutes clutching my knee..... honestly, since I was probably 12 years old it's been the only time I've cried upon injuring myself. I thought for sure I was going to die right there lying in the rainy mud crying.

Of course it's funny now, but it wasn't so much at the time....
 
My swing just missed the pickle fork and my left hand saved the spindle from damage......hurt like hell too.
 
LOL, jesus David. You break anything? That's kind of a fragile area, even on a 12yr old.

Anyway, I'm with sluggo. There is a 'correct' tool, a ball joint separator, which actually works very well, especially in hard to reach spaces. However, I've only had to use one once. The rest of the time, a BFH or two does the trick. It actually works better with two; you hold one on one side of the hole and whack the other side with the other one. The idea is to deform the hole enough (only a couple thousandths of an inch) to pop the ball joint out of it.
 
LOL, jesus David. You break anything? That's kind of a fragile area, even on a 12yr old.
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You read it wrong.... I hadn't cried upon injuring myself since I was 12 years old.

Did I break anything? Who knows.... my knees were already shot by then anyway.... every step is a conscious effort to not hyper-extend the ligaments in my knees as they always seem to want to bend the wrong way. Getting old sucks.
 
"daveSanborn" said:
You read it wrong.... I hadn't cried upon injuring myself since I was 12 years old.

Did I break anything? Who knows.... my knees were already shot by then anyway.... every step is a conscious effort to not hyper-extend the ligaments in my knees as they always seem to want to bend the wrong way. Getting old sucks.
Click to expand...

The alternative is not much better...
 
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