im rebuilding the front end on my 4runner this weekend i.e. tie rod ends, ball joints, idler arm, pitman arm. i know im gonna need a puller to do all of this but im not sure which kind to get. Im not a big fan of a pickle fork kind of puller, i want one of the 2 prong types but i cant find which one to get to do all of them. the pitman arm puller is two prongs but the prongs do not go in or out, they are stationary so would this puller work on all of the things or just the pitman arm? would a gear puller work? it looks a lil bulky for such small spaces. just wanted to know if yall had any suggestins about which type of puller to get and where to get it at.
-Kyle

 

last time i checked the two prong types, were called pickle forks. And no they wont all work. You need different sizes for ball joints, tie rods, pitman arms and so on

 

yep go to schmucks and rent their front end service kit, it'll work for the tie rods and the IDLER arm (important their pitman arm one doesn't fit and just chews up the shaft coming out of your steering box) Also their ball joint one didn't work for me so I just used my gear puller for the lowers and for the uppers just pound on the side of the steering knuckle with a BFH and they just fall out

 

a pickle fork is different then a 2/3 prong puller. we don't have a schmucks around here, we have advance, autozone, and napa and noone in any of those places knows there head from a hole in the ground. i just heard that alot of times, a pickle fork will break or bend and a puller will pull it right off.