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How to Separate the Lower Ball Joint From a Steering Knuckle

When ball joints go bad, the result can be a vehicle and driver sitting on the side of the road with one of the front tires folded underneath the vehicle. There was a day when changing lower ball joints was challenging and still can be on vehicles with traditional coil spring suspension. Most automobiles today, however, have some type of strut suspension and are much safer to work on in the owners garage. One of the biggest challenges for a do-it-yourself individual is how to separate the lower ball joint from the steering knuckle.

Instructions

1

Chock the rear wheels with a wheel chock on each rear wheel. Raise the front end of the vehicle far enough that the front tires do not touch the ground, by positioning a floor jack under the engine cross member and raising the floor jack, following the instructions in the jack manufacturers owners manual. Place jack stands beneath the front jacking points of the vehicle and extend the center posts of the jack stand as far as they will go. Lower the vehicle onto the jack stands, following the instructions in the jack manufacturers owners manual and ensuring the front tires of the vehicle are still off the ground.

2

Remove the lug nuts holding the wheels to the vehicle with the vehicles lug wrench and remove the wheel.

3

Remove the brake caliper, if equipped with disc brakes, from the steering knuckle, following the instructions in the vehicle manufacturers repair manual. Use a piece of wire to hang the caliper from the strut in such a way that there is no pressure on the brake line that leads to the caliper and ensure the caliper will not be in the way of the work at hand.

4

Straighten the ends of the cotter pin that is in the hole in the ball joint shaft with a pair of needle-nose pliers. Pull the other end of the cotter pin out of the hole, using the needle-nose pliers. The cotter pin prevents the crown nut from accidentally coming loose.

5

Remove the crown nut from the ball-joint shaft by putting the appropriate size wrench from a toolkit on the nut and turning the nut counterclockwise until it is off the ball joint shaft.

6

Insert the fork end of a ball-joint separator, more commonly known as a pickle fork, between the lower control arm and the steering knuckle, ensuring the ball-joint shaft is aligned with the center of the pickle fork. Hit the other end of the pickle fork with a hammer, wedging the pickle fork between the lower control arm and the steering knuckle until the ball joint, which is mounted in the lower control arm and the steering knuckle have separated.

Posted by Unknown at 9:30 PM

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