Upper Ball Joint Stuck In Knuckle? The 13 New Answer

It can be quite expensive to buy a ball joint press or parting tool. So, knowing how to remove ball joints in your vehicle without tools is one of the most important skills you need to acquire for the in-car DIY. Knowing this, you no longer need to worry about building a home-made ball joint press. You just need a few simple tools to have in your garage to help you with this process.

Their ball joints are essential components of the front suspension of virtually every automobile made. This component allows for easy movement between your vehicle’s control arms and steering knuckles, allowing you to have a smooth, safe ride and effectively control your vehicle’s wheels.

You can read our previous article on bad ball joint symptoms to know when your vehicle’s ball joints are failing. This article will show you some ball joint removal tricks that will help you swap out your upper and lower ball joints without having to go to the mechanic or spend your money to buy a joint press tool.

How to remove the ball joint without tools (top and bottom)

Be sure to follow these steps to successfully perform this repair. It’s pretty technical, especially if you’re not using a tool to remove the upper or lower ball joint. Therefore, you need to know how to do this properly to avoid damaging other parts of your vehicle – or directly affecting your crash.

phase one

Put on your safety clothing. As we have always said in our previous articles, this is a crucial step if you want to do any car repairs. If you don’t own any safety clothing at all, you need to get some. In fact, any person who doesn’t have these should quit and not continue at all. Always keep your mechanic’s tool kit close at hand during repairs so you can quickly grab the tools you need.

phase two

Next you need to raise your vehicle. Make sure the car is on a level surface and also remove any objects on your vehicle. Take off the axle nut and lug nuts that hold your wheels; The axle nut is included on some vehicle models so you may need a screwdriver to pry the cover open. Please do this carefully. Removing lug nuts can prove tricky, especially when they are all rusted. Give each lug nut a quarter turn; do not remove it completely.

If you use a jack, you must properly install your jack to a strong point in your vehicle. Using a soft part can damage your vehicle parts. If you are not sure where to place the jack, let us know. We will show you the best and safest position to apply your jack and jack based on your vehicle model. After raising your car with your jacks, place your jacks in strong positions under your car.

Make sure your jacks are well placed so the jacks evenly distribute the weight of your vehicle. Now remove the lug nuts of your wheels completely so that you can remove the wheels from your car. It is not advisable to use a car lift for this operation because of the method we will have to use to get this done. However, if you use a ball joint splitter, you can use a car lift to raise your vehicle.

phase three

Now your vehicle is fully raised and held by your jack stands.

For ball joints in the lower wishbone. Place your jack directly under your axle hub where the ball joint goes down. You can put a piece of wood between your axle hub and the jack. Then carefully lift the hub slightly. You should now be able to use a hammer to separate the bottom part of the joint from the top.

Always watch where you hit. It will take time and a lot of different angles for your ball joint to come loose, but you will see and hear the noise when it finally comes loose. Be careful when hitting the case with your hammer.

phase four

Now that you’ve got everything apart, it’s an excellent time to double-check your other joints. Investigate if you have a bad CV joint or other faulty components. If a bug is found, you can take this opportunity to exchange them. Clean any parts that are covered with dirt or dust.

Make sure your threads are nice and clean along with the nuts when you use them, as now that it’s loose you may find it difficult to tighten the nut and seat it as it should. Also when you reattach the hub and the carrier for your caliper. Make sure you have a lock to hold them to make sure they don’t fall apart on you.

phase five

Use your hammer to take your bad ball joint off completely. You may also need some other tools to help you with that. If not, your ball joint won’t push out. Prepare your new joint for installation. Before installing the joint, thoroughly clean the area where the joint will sit. You can also apply lubricant inside the inner part.

A ball joint has a piece of tubing that matches the diameter of the seat of the ball joint. So if you ride the joint, it stops there. Now apply pressure on your jack to raise the tube so you can force your ball joint into place. You can also use a hammer to help insert the joint by hitting the top of the joint seat area, but you must be careful when doing this. Make sure you don’t hit other regions. Keep lifting the pipe and use your hammer until your ball joint is properly seated.

stage six

To remove the upper ball joint without tools, you must locate the upper control arm, which manufacturers typically attach to the top of your vehicle’s front suspension. You will see a circular cap and a thread leading to the arm. The cap encloses your upper ball joint. Use your drill tool to drill through your rivets that will be used to hold your ball joint. You can use a hammer to remove the remaining part of your rivet fragments. Now use the bolt to trace your cotter pin. It always encloses the bolt.

You can loosen your cotter pin from your vehicle’s bolt with needle nose pliers. Then continue with the same method you used for your upper ball joint when removing your lower ball joint. Once your top ball joint is out, carefully use your hammer to hammer the new joint into place.

We always advise not to use too much force when using a hammer. Just use it nice and gently. Once your joints are snug, you can lower your jack and couple everything together by reassembling the separated components.

Do you see that! You have successfully replaced your upper and lower control arm ball joint without using a special tool such as the ball joint press tool. Please note that we are not implying that using special tools is not a good thing, but if you cannot or do not want to buy those tools. Use this method to change your ball joint. You can read other articles that show you how to make a homemade ball joint press to make this process even more convenient.

How to remove the ball joint without tools YouTube

last words

Now you don’t have to worry about ball joints stuck in steering knuckle or other ball joint problems unless you have special tools. By reading this article, you have acquired the necessary knowledge to remove the ball joint without tools. As mentioned, this is a very technical process, so you must follow the steps strictly.

Please provide feedback so we know how this worked for you.

Depending on the car make and model, replacing worn/faulty ball joints can be a costly affair. The repair costs depend, among other things, on whether the control arm has to be completely replaced or whether it is sufficient to replace the ball joint and possibly the bushings. Although ball joints are often sold separately, simply replacing the ball joint is not always enough. In the following paragraphs you will find out why this is so – and what you should pay attention to.

Cast iron wishbones vs. sheet steel

With a ball joint that is mounted on a cast control arm, if the control arm bushings show no signs of wear, it is often sufficient to just replace the ball joint. If the wishbone bushes show signs of wear, you should consider replacing the wishbone completely.

With a sheet steel wishbone where the ball joint is pressed into the wishbone, it is not always sufficient to replace the ball joint – even if the bushings are OK. Since the contact area between the ball joint and the control arm is quite limited with this type of handlebar, there are always two details that must ALWAYS be considered when replacing a ball joint. First, make sure there are no signs of cracking in the area of ​​the wishbones/holes where the ball joint is located. Second, make sure the holes are circular and have not widened due to general wear and tear or previous replacements. Although this type of ball joint is often secured with a locking ring, this does NOT guarantee that the ball joint will stay in place in all situations.

Depending on the make and model, Triscan offers complete wishbones as well as separate ball joints and bushings – both for cast iron and sheet steel wishbones

Replacing a ball joint that is pressed into the wishbone requires removing the wishbone in most cases. You should therefore consider replacing the entire control arm.

DID YOU KNOW…?

Depending on the make and model, Triscan offers complete wishbones as well as separate ball joints and bushings – both for cast iron and sheet steel wishbones.

With more than 6,600 references, Triscan’s steering program is the largest in Europe.

ATTENTION DURING INSTALLATION / REMOVAL:

Steps to remove the lower ball joint rivets

Drill out the rivet and remove it with a drill, drill, hammer and chisel

Get an 8mm drill bit, an electric or air drill, a hammer and a chisel

One way to remove a ball joint rivet is to drill it open with an 8mm drill bit and a power or air drill. It’s also useful to have larger sizes as you may need to increase the drill bit size as the rivet is drilled out. A hammer and chisel are also needed to chisel out the rivet.

Wear safety protection and punch a hole in the center of the rivet

Wear safety goggles and eye protection. You want to drill in the center of the rivet. If the rivet doesn’t have an indentation, create one using a punch and hammer as a good starting point.

Drill the rivet, cool the drill bit, switch hammer and punch, and increase the bit size

Drill out the rivet with a drill and drill. If the drill gets hot, use grease or rust remover on the rivet to cool it down.

Halfway through drilling out the rivet, take a punch and a hammer and see if you can break the rest of the way. If that doesn’t work, drill out the rivet further if necessary. Upgrade to a larger drill and keep the drill cool.

Repeat this process of drilling, chiseling, and increasing the drill size and re-drilling until the rivet is removed.

You can upgrade to a much larger drill bit size. In our example, we started with an 8mm drill and ended up using a 15/32″ drill size

Remove the rivet with a cutter wheel and hammer and punch

Get a cutting wheel, a hammer, and a punch

You can also remove the ball joint rivets with a cutting wheel, hammer and punch.

Avoid the lower control arm

Try not to get too close to the lower control arm. You can scrape it off, but don’t dig too deep into it.

wear safety protection

Wear hearing protection and safety goggles.

Using the cutter wheel, hammer and punch alternately, remove the rivet with pliers

Cut the rivet with a cutter wheel and remove the rivet with a hammer and punch. Alternate between cutting out the rivet and chiseling it with a hammer and center punch.

Once it’s ready to be removed completely, use pliers to remove it. You can scrape the area, which is fine as long as you don’t cut it too deep.

Use a cutting wheel and air chisel to remove the rivet

Use the cutting wheel to mark an “X” on the rivet. You can also use a cutting wheel and air chisel to remove ball joint rivets. Use the cutter wheel to create an “X” on the bottom of the rivet. Then air chisel the rest of the rivet.

Air chisel off the rivet

Marking an “X” with a cutting wheel will remove the ball joint rivet very quickly. You could try chiseling it off without cutting an “X”, but we guarantee it’ll come off quicker if you do.

Why you should lose the hammer

Ball joints, steering knuckles and wishbones are extremely dirty on the chassis of every vehicle. If the hole in the knuckle is caked with dirt, deformed, or rusted, it may be difficult to properly seat the ball stud in the knuckle. Hitting the underside of the ball joint with a hammer to knock it into place can cause a ripple effect of damage. The plate on the ball joint can deform or mushroom into the steering knuckle. In the case of ball joints with metal bearings, the disc spring can be crushed by the impact of force on the plate or the housing. The backplate can be dented, deforming the threads for the grease fitting or damaging the grease fitting itself.

Damage caused by hammering makes the ball joint difficult to service and likely to make it very difficult to remove the component the next time it needs to be replaced. The good news is that there are ways to incorporate a ball joint without causing all of these problems. Here are 5 ways to install a ball joint while protecting its integrity.

This tool is used to separate the ball joint from the spindle support arm. It works on many domestic and imported front wheel drive vehicles and is adjustable up to 2 inches for different size ball joints.