Seriously.

I need to pull the arm so I can get the ball joint I ruined out so I can put the new ball joint in so I can move the damn car away from the flooded basement.

I don't want to cut the bolt if I don't have to, and I don't really feel comfortable taking the torch to the underside of the car.

Ideas?

 

torch, impact wrench, mallet, insert swear words here, torch, impact wrench, mallet...

 

I wasted two days on this same project, just over one damn bolt. I even tried a large C clamp and a couple of sockets to "press" the bolt out. All this did was deform the arm so that it had to be replaced. For the other side, I didn't even mess around. I went to Harbor Freight and spent 20 bucks on a 4 1/2 inch angle grinder and a cutoff wheel. With that in hand, the other side took 2 minutes. New bolts are easy to find....

 

I figured I'd have to do that. Son of a bitch. I don't know if my sawzall survived the carnage, I'll have to check.

 

lol, I bought a sawzall first and it didn't even make a dent in the bolt. It was also nearly impossible to get a good angle on it without the end of the blade bottoming out. This was another waste of a day. If I had gone straight out and fot the grinder first thing, I would have a couple of days of my life back... The sawzall, after about 15 minutes of rubbing against that bolt, had made about 1/16" impression on it. The angle grinder on the other hand, was completely through the bolt in about 5 seconds. This has proven to be one of my most used tools since then...

 

Alright, I'll see if my cutoff wheel is ok... Luckily my air compressor is fine.

 

They actually make a tool for such a job - Ball Joint Sepreator - It looks kinda like a weapon from a predator movie hahah. I think it costs about $20 and Ive seen them for sale at juat about every autoparts store. Im going to have to replace my left front control arm as well. Its a bit out of alignment

 

Man, I feel really lucky...mine came right out. But hey $100T2,,,you seem to have a ton of technical ability, but it seems like you're always pissed about something or somebody. I understand that you just got your basement flooded, but you seem to be doing ok financially, so take it easy! There are worse things in life. You'll get through it! And yes, I have been through a flooded basement...it's not much fun, but there are a bazillion people out there that would love to have a flooded basement be the worst thing they have to worry about. My support goes out to you, just keep things in perspective.

Just $0.02 from an old fart

Rich

 

have you tried some penatrating oil? let sit for a bit...

 

Search! LOL. You asked this earlier this year and recieved many ideas.

 

all i had to do was sacrifice an old screwdriver and tap the bolt out from the threaded end

 

I worked on four of them for hours then got the grinder out and cut them out in minutes, bolts are easy to replace as said, new control arm bushings come with new sleeves, got mine from Billy at Respeed fast.

 

pickle fork.

 

PB blaster and 10 minutes and they'll fall apart...

 

PB Blaster didn't do ***** to mine, soaked them for two days, they were solid....

 

A good example of why coating the bolts with anti-sieze is highly advisable upon reassembly.

 

if something pissed me off long enough i took the sawzall to it.

 

But he wanted to be able to put it back together........

 

Penetrating oil huh? Who'd have thought of that? lol. Or, how about a torch to heat it up? Or maybe pounding it out with an old screwdriver? Or maybe one of the other two million things I tried on mine that didn't help....

Trust me, this can be a weeklong headbeating session or a five minute R&R. Get the right bolt size (quality, of course) then cut the old ones off. Sawzall might work if you have an hour to spare, and don't cramp up easily. But a good cutoff wheel will do the job in seconds. Literally. Once that bolt welds itself to that steel bushing, they become one. At least that's how it works here in the rust belt.

 

I can't get the nut off my cut-off wheel to be able to use it.

It's just one thing after another with this car.

 

I feel your pain my friend... I hate working on cars!