Man what a PITA. I got the tie rod end off thanks to a special tool the presses it out. When it pressed out it virtually exploded out of the hole lol. Now I still cant get off the upper and lower joint. I got a crowbar and tried to pry the upper a-arm off the spindle and all it does is compress the shocks. Im really stuck here and not sure what to do! Also, I ripped my ball joint on my steering tie rod. How do I replace this?

-Robert

 

go to the parts house and get a "pickle fork" its a two prong fork that you put between the spindle and the a-arm. You then drive the fork in between the two and it pops them apart. I had all mine apart in a total of 5 mins with one. Note it will usually tear the little rubber covers on the ball joint so you will need to buy replacements at the autoparts store.

 

take 2 hammers and hit the ball joint on each side of the ball joint at the same time. if timed correct, that sucker pops out like michael jacson's **** at a Chuckie Cheeses. lol but that how i'd try to get the ball joints off. i don't, like using a tuning fork unless i have to

 

I rented a tool that looks like a C with a pointed bolt in the middle that you screw into the center of the bolt. Man those ball joints just exploded off the spindle. But Im missing the bolts for the caliper bracket so I gotta go to GM tomorrow to buy some so im stuck right now.

 

i have heard numerous times not to use a pickle fork and to use two hammers.

 

Does anyone know why you shouldn't use a pickle fork? Thats what it was made for. To me it seems better than just hitting shi+ with a hammer.

 

by using a tuning fork (aka pickle fork) you can damage anything u might be reusing, and i guess it's even possible to bend the spindle or maybe even the tie rod end if you wacking away at the fork hard enough. (assuming u have a really stubborn ball joint). with a tuning fork, u are applying pressure to one side more than another, not that it would matter much. i don't like trying to get the right size fork and getting it under the damn thing. it's much eaier to use 2 hammers. u can't really damage much with that. i mean if u break metal by hammering on it simultaineously, u have a bad part anyway.