How did you press the lower ball joint out of the control arm. Did you use a special tool? I've got the ball joint seporated from the steering knuckle but that's where i'm stuck.

Thanks.

 

The ball joint press from napa is 200 bucks.. i checked yesterday..
My dad says he can get them out and put them in without a press. He tried explaining it but i wasnt really listening. I wonder if a 2 arm puller would work..??

TTT for yuh

 

Thanks for the reply, but I need specifics.

 

Anyone I have done I used a ball joint press. I don't advise using a hammer. I doubt if you can get a 3 jaw puller on one. Autozone my have a press to rent. Or unblt the control arm and take it somewhere. You will need to align the car anyway.

 

I went ahead and BOUGHT a ball joint press. Even with the "right" tool, it was still a pain in the *** to get the things out. Putting them in was even tougher. Job is done though, and I take it for an alignment today. Hopefully this resolves my continual alignment problems.

 

I took a hammer to the top (which was a PITA!). One LBJ took about 1 hour of hammering the hell out of it and the other took over 2 hours. BUT it saved me from paying someone to do it (3 hours of labor). I would recommend putting the new LBJs in and immediately taking it to a place that does alignment and have them press it in and give you an alignment. I put new tires on my car about 5-6 months ago, did the LBJ install, I didn't have time to have them pressed so I went without them. I rotated my tires yesterday and a babies *** would be jealous of my front tires. It wore them to hell and back. BEFORE I get my Z06 rims and tires on I'm getting the best alignment ever done on a car. I can't afford to pay $368/tire b/c of a LBJ problem. Just my 2 cents

 

I used a lot of PB blaster and a hammer and they came right out. However, if you look at the ball joints you will notice that they are installed with a slight angle to them. It helped me to unbolt the entire thing and then the ball joint would have a straightened path. Just patience and a hammer, and they will come off. They went back in almost effortlessly (I did not reinstall the original lower control arms, I used BMR's really sweet LCA's, makes the car handle soooo much better).


Disregard, I re-read the original post and I thought you were trying to remove the ball joint from the steering knuckle. My bad.

 

Big Hammer.