What a PITA. Bought a 911 front suspension with everything still attached. I pressed off the rubber bushings and tried attacking the ball joints. Damn things are pissing me off. They're in like country music. I can't reef on them hard enough to break them loose. Tried an impact, tried using my press to push down on the socket while I spun it. Damn near knocked my press over. Is there a secret to it besides installing A arm with TB and using the jack under the socket trick?

I had to take my teener to my mechanic and it still took him over an hour on one ball joint. You are taking about 35+ years of frozen!

Are you talking about the large castellated nut that holds it on from the bottom? Heat it with a torch. It's off the car and the ball joint is toast anyway. Or use a 2lb hand sledge and a cold chisel. And my personal favorite, the 14" pipe wrench.

This is get a bigger pipe wrench job. Your not going to save old ball joint ??

Dremel with a cut-off wheel. The new nuts are about $14. Cut the old ones, be done

Yep.

Removed 7 of these off used A-Arms in the past 9 months. NO, I'm definately not the expert. That person probably died a slow death for never sharing the ultimate secret with all of us here...we can only hope

Hammer, heat, chisel, pipe wrench and dremel - They all work.

The choice is whether you want to work out on your A-Arm or that new P90 kit gathering dust in the corner closet

I didn't say that...I was never here...

Air chisel.

Thanks guys. I figured I'd have to cut them off. The old ball joints are toast. It's the gland nut type deal where you need a special socket. Couldn't see spending $50 for the Porsche tool. Took the A arm to my local auto parts store and found that Dodge has a similar tool for $13. It aint perfect but close enough for the girls I run with.

Listen to Mike. I've done a couple of these and I "THINK" I still have a ball joint around. Buy the nut and cut off the old one. Remember to use an anti-sieze when you re-install. The "tool" is really only for installation.

The right tool does the trick rather nicely

If it is rusted, that tool will do no good...

Back when I was still in San Diego, the Dr. and I were trying to remove the ball joint from "The Blond" and they never moved. We put a jack inbetween to try to give more leverage and it always slipped off. Finally I cut it with a dremel and bought the nut.

this one was special made from hardened steel and is quite a bit thicker and a more precise fit . I have yet for it to fail, sometimes heat is required

That is real pretty Scotty.

The Dodge tool is hardened steel also and it has a shoulder to keep it centered on the nut. I'll take a picture later today. The shoulder is a pinch wider than the nut but it still locks it in tight. The teeth are also a bit narrower than the slot in the nut. No big deal because they lock in after a small revolution. For $13 it's still better than the mild steel Porsche tool at 1/5 the price.

The main problem I have is I can't hold the A arm still and the socket square to the nut at the same time.

Here it is:

No bench vise ? How about a couple of C-clamps and a table or trailer ?

I just did three sets of these off the car. I ended up soaking them for a couple days with PB Blaster.

Then heated them as hot as I could with my torch.

Used the proper tool and an extension on my socket wrench and they all cracked free. I was amazed how tight they were, but they all surrendered to the miracle of leverage !

P210 and a MAPP torch. Never fails.

Aero-Kroil for x2,3,4 2 days, air chisel. the castlated nut will jsut about turn its self off.

John,

What is "The Dodge Tool?" I've seen similar one's at Autozone, but none were the right size. Do you have a P/N or application or source or all three?

Thanks,
Andys

I've got a bench vice but no bench heavy enough to mount it on. Been meaning to weld up a pedestal bolted to the garage floor to mount it on. Might be time to do that now.



I just have vague info. I read over on Pelican that a 4wd Dodge axle nut socket worked. I took my A arm to Advance Auto Parts and tried a bunch of specialty Dodge sockets. Found one made by Autocraft in 2 1/4" that fit damn close so I bought it. Never payed attention to what it was supposed to fit.

I checked the nut with a calipers and it's @ 2.08" My socket has @ .17" of slop at 2.25". It's close but not perfect.