How to use ball joint separator

[JustCallMeOrlando]

Hey all,

Apologies if this is blatantly obvious for someone, but I have one of these:


and I need to know how to use it

I'm trying to remove the ball joints holding on the axle carriers on my JZA80. They're the last thing stopping me from taking them to have the bearing pressed out.

Cheers,
Nathan

[RA35GT]

Heya Nathan,

I have one of these, they work awesome.

Havent used it on ball joints however...only on the tie rod ends.

Mine wasn'y big enough to go onto the ball joints.

On tie rod ends you flip it over and push the fork bit between the tie rod end and the arm, the single finger then goes on the threaded rod on top. You do up the bolt on the tool and hey presto tie rod end is out. I am away from home so have no photos!

[TheStitt]

yeah as above, undo the nut on the ball joint



Slide the fork (A) in between the arm and the hub so that the other side C is touching the bolt/where nut used to be on ball joint

tighten B and A and C should be driven together and poping your ball joint.

B will be bloody tight and you may have to hammer the tool into place

whilst in use it will be upside down to what is in the pic

[KARNAGE]

even with the tool it will be frickon tight so dont give up on it thinking its not working when i did mine it took me frickon ages to get it to pop out

[Cuzzo]

Do these protect the ball joint? OR still distroy it?

[KARNAGE]

i used one similar looked a little different and it wasnt destroyed when it came out... i did put new ones back in though

[JustCallMeOrlando]

Theoretically it shouldn't destroy them

I think I get the descriptions guys, I'll try it out when I get home. I'll post up some pics when I get stuck.

[stidnam]

Just remember to undo the nut on the ball joint. I've broken at least 1 tie rod separator by forgetting to undo the nut .

[TheStitt]

If you hit the side of the joint with a fucking big hammer this also helps to loosen it, maybe use both at the same time

I've got a fork that I use i've gotten a few joints with stuffing them. Once we had to use hte spliter and a Log spliter with a 4 foot handle!!

[oldcorollas]

you can sometimes put the nut back on upside down, with the end flush to the thread, to give "C" a larger and more stable area to push on, and slightly less likely to munt the end of the BJ threads

[JustCallMeOrlando]

I've got a fork that I use i've gotten a few joints with stuffing them. Once we had to use hte spliter and a Log spliter with a 4 foot handle!!

You're not instilling me with much confidence Stitty

[LeeRoy]

The one you have is good. A few big hits with a hammer should help to loosen it and make your life easier too.

As for the use of a pickle fork I have found that while they do work, they;
a. Tear the ball joint boot to shreds, &
b. Are a pain in the arse

[JustCallMeOrlando]

Note to self. Glad I didn't purchase a pickle fork which thankfully no one had in stock

[ddeane]

Be interested to see if yours works. I had one which snapped on the first tie rod end that I used it on. I now use two different size 'pickle' forks with great success, one large for ball joints and a smaller one for tie rod ends. They have had heaps of use over the years (one of the problems with having owned Fords - you seem to be replacing ball joints every rego check. Took a little sledge hammer but managed to remove the 42 year old ball joints successfully on the Thunderbird a few weeks back. As others have mentioned there is a quite a bit of technique in removing ball/tie joints. You need to position a jack so that it puts a separating load on the joint and it may also need a (big) tap on the side of the fitting with a large ball peen hammer.

Good luck.

Craig

[The Witzl]

I've used one like yours nathan, and prefer it to the pickle fork i have. I only use the "tuning fork" when i want to bash it good and dont care if i destroy the ball joint.

My trick with the separator you have is to install as mentioned, then tighten up the bolt until there is tension on the ball joint to come out - then hit the hub with a metal hammer/mallet around the area where the balljoint goes in.... tighten a little more, then do it again.

Hitting the hub with a hammer whilst there is pressue to push out the balljoint will make it come loose really easily, as opposed to just tightening up the bolt and hoping for the balljoint to pop out purely from the force of the separator.

It all else fails. Use more hammer.