VW Balljoint Replacement

All I can do is offer encouragement because this story is starting out like most of my car adventures.  I always tell people that I never said I was good at this, but I am persistent.

RonL posted:

All I can do is offer encouragement because this story is starting out like most of my car adventures.  I always tell people that I never said I was good at this, but I am persistent.

Oh, I know that feeling...

Get your money back from HF. Do buy the arms with the ball joints already pressed in returning your old arms as a core charge is usually imposed. Check Greg @ VMC  I believe Jack Crosby just did this .

Holy C#r!$+!  All I've ever used is a ball joint pickle fork and it never took more than a couple of solid hits to pop the BJ away from the trailing arm, all while in the car.  Most of the time I support the BJ stud with a jack and block, then give the trailing arm a whack with a mallet and they pop apart.  I have seen people use a two-arm bearing remover to press against the BJ stud to pop it out, but that was just using a 3/8" ratchet on the bearing puller and it popped right out.  Yours must have some sort of "Super Glue" on them.   

Can you find a cheap MAPP torch locally at HD or Lowes?  That'll give you MUCH more heat than a propane torch and should pop them loose, especially with a 12-ton press.  I have one of those HF 12 ton presses and they can really do the job so something is amiss with the BJs in the first place.  Heat the piss out of them with MAPP and they should press out with the HF press.

Alan Merklin posted:

Get your money back from HF. Do buy the arms with the ball joints already pressed in returning your old arms as a core charge is usually imposed. Check Greg @ VMC  I believe Jack Crosby just did this .

I did follow through with your advice, Alan--and thanks for it.  Right---I will return the old parts later to avoid a  core charge.  Greg was great to deal with.  This was a super easy route as I'd have lost  a couple of fingers trying to remove and press in new ball joints.  

Gordy, Wolfgang is not removing his spindles from their ball-jointed captivity; for some reason he is trying to remove his old ball joints from the VW trailing arms. This on a car that's seen maybe 1500 miles flat towing since he began assembly 30-odd years ago. 

As he has discovered, those suckers are very much pressed in. Removal is usually a heat-intensive process, best accomplished by a skilled professional. As is the insertion and in-pressing of the new items which, one presumes, actually fit these days and do not bind up once the thing cools down (as some batches of some replacement bjs were known to do in recent years). 

The stock ones also last about 600,000 miles in regular street use, so I am at a loss as to why he is bugging these things at all. 

Alan, as usual, has the best advice. 

This is on my dune buggy front end.  Pickle fork worked on the tie rod ends.  Think I'll try Mapp gas torch and Advance Auto rents (free) c-clamp looking tool.

Years ago I tried to use a Made in China big COSTCO "cast iron vise - ended up breaking the jaw on vise.

Apologies then Greg. 

edsnova posted:

Gordy, Wolfgang is not removing his spindles from their ball-jointed captivity; for some reason he is trying to remove his old ball joints from the VW trailing arms. This on a car that's seen maybe 1500 miles flat towing since he began assembly 30-odd years ago. 

As he has discovered, those suckers are very much pressed in. Removal is usually a heat-intensive process, best accomplished by a skilled professional. As is the insertion and in-pressing of the new items which, one presumes, actually fit these days and do not bind up once the thing cools down (as some batches of some replacement bjs were known to do in recent years). 

The stock ones also last about 600,000 miles in regular street use, so I am at a loss as to why he is bugging these things at all. 

Alan, as usual, has the best advice. 

Part of the problem (or maybe better said is the problem some of the time) is the alignment marks not in their proper places when pressed together. Then the ball joint's movement is severely restricted.

If the joints are good and the problem is ripped boots, aircooled.net sells just the boots. Much easier than swapping out the ball-joint. Careful with those darn spring retainers on the joint......