i jsut started working on my ball joint spacer install.. seems easy enough.. but i cant get the bolts out of the ball joint so i can put the new bolts that came with the spacers in.. any help greatly apreciated...

 

Standard suggestions, heat (propane torch) , penetrating oil (something like PB Blaster, Kroil, etc., not WD-40), more heat, some paraffin wax melted into the heated threads, impact driver, impact wrench, or just break the bolts off with sufficient leverage, you are replacing them anyway.

 

there not bolts.. there like lugs or studs.. there is no wrench head on the back..
im going to go rent a grinder 2morro morning so worst off ill cut them off..

my buddy came over and we decided to just try banging the ÅÅÅÅ out of one.. it worked.. so we tried it on the other ones to the point the screw end gained about 1/3 size increasyt.. so no chance of putting the bolts back on.. so ill make something happen tonight or 2morro..

but any one whos had this prob before id be much abliged for more ideas..

 

ok so you're talking about the studs that go through the ball joint and then through the upper control arm. like Roger said, hear and PB blaster. i i just had to pound the snot out of mine with a mini sledge hammer. i held the flat part of the ball joint with some vice grips and just went at it. good luck.

 

If you can bolt it back up, pound them out one at a time, at least untill you get to the last one. then you can stick an extra bolt through any of the holes and pound out the 4th. this way it stays snug in place against the UCA. or get a softer hammer, dead blow or brass ( I used brass and just knocked the snot out of em) that still has impact but wont deform the bolts

 

Frank's instructions say " Knock the studs out of the joint with a small hammer.
<> - This is done most easily if the joint is pressed against the arm with a floor jack."

I was installing new ball joints at the sametime and I removed the studs with the BJs off the truck. I just layed them on the concrete and popped them out with a hammer and a large socket behind the studs.

 

ok... i now realized there were smarter ways to go about this.. but im stuck nwo anyway.. on the other side ill do it better.. ibought a grinder and cut off the top of the
studs and tried banging the ÅÅÅÅ out of it with an old bolt thats a bit smaller trying to push the back out.. that didnt work.. so i cut the bottom off.. and tried banging the ÅÅÅÅ out of it going upwards.. no dice.. any recomendation?


on the other side im going to cut the bottom off right away and tighten the nut with a deep socket untill it pulls it through

 

Try putting a socket large enough to receive the stud head on the bottom then press it out with a c clamp. I was putting in new BJ's and used the socket with hammer approach to get the studs out of the new BJ's, but I had the advantage of working on them anywhere that was convenient to get a good solid surface and a good swing with the hammer. I think the c clamp would be more controlled. With the studs cut you might have to combine the c clamp method with your smaller bolt method.

 

If they are that frozen, might be a good idea to invest in some new joints.. the ball/socket may be in bad shape and the increased angles of the spacers may accelerate wear...

 

blknblu.. thAts a good idea.. i finished doing the first side by using a .25" cobalt drill bit to drill them out.. once i got through the center the rest fell out since the studs r a tiny bit bigger than .25" . when i got to work on the pass side i tried undoing one bolt and banging the ÅÅÅÅ out of it with a hammer.. it worked the first time.. second time it jsut ÅÅÅÅed the bolt up. so i cut the top of the bolt, and the bottom off.. i put the nut back on and tried tightening it to pull it through into a deep socket. it eventuaLly sheered off when the part of the stud without threads got to the nut.. so now im gonna have to drill that one out.. so now i have 2 unacounted for.. i think im jsut gonna drill them out 2morro.. then see if i can come up with the scratch to buy new joints in a week or 2.. should i do the new joints before or after alignment? are the spacers suposed to sit flat against the underside of the upper a arm, or is there suposed to be some space? cuz myne arent sitting flat.. i thought lowering the truck might push it in there.. im not sure if it did cuz i havnt rechecked it yet.. when i finished the driver side i jsut left it with one nut on each stud to see if id have to do any adjustments after i put the weight on it.. i havnt taken the wheel off again so ill see what it looks liek 2morro when i finish the pass side.. anyone delt with that b4? if it isnt sitting flat do i jsut leave it? or do i grind out some a arm to make it sit flush? it seems it would put a lot of undo stress on the bolts if i leave it with the extra space in there,,

 

update. finished it up today.. drilled out the rest of the studs with 3 cobalt drill bits. used a breaker bar to tighten the nuts untill it pulled the spacers to the upper a arm.. broke one bolt in the process gonna go to home depot and get a replacement tonight or 2morro.. need to get a new sway bar mount for the pass side. because the other one was broken loose and is mangled pretty bad..

on another note.. the lower a arm bump stop brackets on the pass side are also mangled pretty bad.. adding about another inch to the distance before it hits the bump stop. what do you all think about thaT?

 

Yeah the spacers are supposed to fit flush against the a arm and yeah you need to remove some material from the arm for them to fit right. I can't imagine how you got them in there if you didn't.

On the bumpstops, do you mean the stops themselves are mangled or the mounts are bent? If the stops are shorter than normal (allowing more travel) thats a good thing. Alot of folks put on low profile stops to accomplish the same thing. If your mounts have been bent then they might be weakened and that likely isn't a good thing.

 

yeah.. the mounts are mangled.. the stops are relativly good loocking... whats going to break if those mounts come off? and the spacers.. i didnt grind them in.. i just tightened like a mo fo..

 

You'd better check that out, even tightening them like a mofo probably wont allow them to seat flush against the UCA. wich can lead to disaster, since you may be puttting a side load on the bolts that they were not designed for. You only have to remove minimal material and you can buy the cut off tool or beg/borrow/steal one. That would be some real bad stuff if your front end comes apart at speed or even slow speed. It could cause to run off the road or into someone, or leave you stranded in BFE....

 

i have a grinder . and the spacers are sitting damn enar pefectly flush against the underside of the UCA...they are tucked all the way in there.....
iv biin checking them every few days.. an they havnt needed any tightening.. seeing as how i did them my self every time i park the car damn near im sticking my head in the wheel well to take a look at every thing.. so ill be keeping a really close eye on it for awhile..

thanks