I am doing an LS1 brake swap on my car right now, I cannot get the ball joints disconnected from the upper and lower A-Arms. I have slammed the damn thing with a picklefork and a sledgehammer, the picklefork has gone about as far as it can and the ball joint is still connected. What the hell can I do to disconnect it? I am swapping to tubular lower a-arms while I do the brakes, so I figure I can leave the knuckle connected to the lower a-arm and remove it as one piece. The only problem is I can't get the picklefork in the wheelwell to wedge the ball joint loose from the upper a-arm to get the damn thing out of there. Is there and easy method to remove the upper ball joint? I went to the auto store and the have no puller tool that will fit in there. Is the picklefork the only method? Thanks for any help!

 

Loosen the nut a few turns and whack the side of the knuckle on the flat part, right at the side of where the stud hole is. It may help to back up the other side of the knuckle with a bigger hammer.

 

I think this is the easiest way, using a puller.
http://z28.reanimator.org/balljoint_puller.jpg
It's how GM does it at the shop. Doesn't damage anything.

NOTE: Leave the nut ON loose so everything doesn't fly off when it pops.

Also this may be of some help to you.
http://z28.reanimator.org/pics/brakes_ls1_bracket.jpg
It shows how I bent the brake lines, and cut and bent the bracket for the LS1 brake.

 

I fist loosened and backed both ball joint nuts partially off. Then with the suspension unloaded, using a hammer I hit with a downward motion on the spindle and the upper ball joint popped loose. I then used a jack to lift up on the rotor, which loaded the lower A-arm with the spring. Tapping the lower A-arm with a hammer then caused the lower ball joint to pop loose. Be careful when dealing with the spring it is potentially destructive but can be used to your advantage.

JeffA

 

Thanks for the input everyone, I am going to go and try to find the puller at another store in the morning. I tried beating it loose but it was a no go. I'll just have to find the proper puller.

 

I can see where you bent the line. But I don't know what you're talking about when you say bent the bracket? What piece are you talking about? Thank you.

 

You can see the bracket in the second pic:
http://z28.reanimator.org/pics/brakes_ls1_bracket.jpg
where the rubber brake line meets the metal brake line. That bracket was horizontal where the brake line passes through. Since the new brakes needed the hose to point "out" instead of "up" I took the bracket off, cut a slot down the middle about 1 inch long, and bent it down by pounding it with a hammer, in a bench vise. See what I mean?

 

That is odd. I just did my front suspension with poly bushings and what not and my knuckles came loose with a little 3 pound hammer action. I had 136k on the stock stuff by the way.

 

Ahhhh, so it was kinda horizontal, and you made it vertical, well kind of vertical Right? That looks easy enough. Thanks again.