Thanks everyone who pitched in with a solution. Neighbor dropped over. Fellow's a retired electrical engineer with an RF background. "Well, there's your problem," he said. "You need a pickle fork." Wandered back with a couple of sturdy little gadgets that look like a bifurcated fork from one side, a wedge from the other. Popped them upper ball joints out right smart. While I was tidying up, I saw that several helpful emails had come in. One from Sam Walters pointed me to Tom Carrington's site at http://volksweb.relitech.com/uballjnt.htm where the casual observer will notice the use of a pickle fork. What an electrical engineer with an RF background is doing with pickle forks may remain a mystery. -- Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana") 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano KG6RCR On 2/16/2007 3:05 PM Airic wrote: > a litle heat on the knuckle, followed by some spray lube upwards should get > it, put the nut back on the joint to give you more wacking area, or put the > 8mm socket cap screws back on the arm, and beat the arm up using the wieght > of the knuckle to help. you can get it it is just a bit stuck. tight fit, > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM> > To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> > Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 4:47 PM > Subject: Upper ball joint - WTF? > > >> I thought these were the easy ones? >> >> Can't get the old ball joints out of the control arm. I've got the 8mm >> cap head bolts out, and the ball joint's main nut off. I've dropped the >> caliper to get a good shot at the end of the ball joint's stud and have >> tried banging away at it, and it won't come out. Bentley's shows using a >> fancy tool to get the thing out of the control arm. Don't got that tool >> and I'm presently stumped. >> >> -- >> >> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott >> 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus >> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana") >> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano >> KG6RCR > > |
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