Installed new ball joints today.
used the 60 dollar tool from pelican.

Didn't use an impact wrench at all, but still managed to round the teeth on the tool.
Castle nut wasn't even marked.

don, who was the muscle, and I agree that you'd think the 12 dollar nut would round before the 60 dollar tool..... right?

junk tool IMHO.

I've never buggered up the tool cause I use a pipe wrench on em'.

Me too...sad but true!

Josh

I used a hammer and a punch a long time ago and no problems...yet. 10k

I sense a recurring theme here with me wasting my money.

I have that tool from Pelican, I use it on an impact and it works flawlessly every time. I have never tried it by hand. I would send it back as maybe they changed suppliers and went with the lower quality tool and if nobody says anything, they will never know.

I bought mine from Skyway tools years ago and have never had a problem with it either with a breaker bar or an impact tool.

In my opinion, it sounds like your tool was not properly hardened...

Call Pelican and tell them that you want this resolved. They should be obligated to provide quality.

I had the same problem, back when they were $50 Pipe wrench is the way to go

I remember this coming up here recently, and I think Dave Darling said Pelican had recently added the disclaimer "for installation only" for that tool. If you damaged it using it for install I bet Pelican takes care of you. I have never had a problem with them.

Jim

edit: here it is from their site: Ball Joint Pin Wrench Socket, 1/2 Drive, NOTE: For INSTALLATION ONLY, 911 (1965-89), 914 All, 912

I found that liquid wrench and heat from a torch complete the job.

same thing happened to mine....still had enough edge on it for when I took it down to a shop that had an impact wrench it came off with heat. Tool is piece of crap.

The tool works just fine if you maintain sufficient pressure against the nut.

mine has impact use and survived

I only used it for installation as the old ones were removed with a dremel before powder coating.


Sure it "may" work fine if you are "very careful".

But whats BS is the tool should not be softer than the nut. You want the nut to be rounded, not your tool which costs 5 times as much.



And yes Gint as others have said, the tool of this design CAN work.
Mine however was wasted with two people using sufficient care installing 2 NEW nuts. I think Don Traver will back me up on the crap quality of this and it not being abused in any extraordinary way.

It may as well have been from harbor freight.

im sure pp will take care of it.

BTW- why didnt you just make the tool CNC boy? make it 'pretty' too LOL

time is money
and I work 40 hrs a week while I study college boy.

besides, if I made one that worked everybody would be buggin me!

then I'd have to make the tool for the strut top as well.

I'll model it for ya, then you cut one.
sound fun?

my access to the shop is limited to tell the truth.
pretty much based on how busy things are.

There's your problem. RS America boy has been pumping too much iron. He eats stuff like that for breakfast!

Don't bet on it. I have not been very impressed with the customer service after getting a bum deal on my Bursch muffler. Still pisses me off

+1 to the boneyard. I know it says "for installation only," however, I did round off the "loosen side" of the $60 tool even after lots of PB Blaster & some heat. I still have the "righty tighty" side, so that's good for reassembly. I'll be using a pipe wrench tomorrow to loosen...damn that's a stuck, rusted 184 ft-# nut!

It sounds like they have kept the costs the same, and not doing the proper heat-treating anymore, or something...I went slow, and used a breaker bar easily with the special tool 280b (according to the original shop manuals). Ha! For installation only! Gr...

Gotta love the "search" function! Thanks guys...

Pete

the instructions to make one are in the hanes manual. generous ammount of pbblaster+taping on the side of the nut+pneumatic impact and chisel bit=2 minutes or less. buy new capturing nuts.

I replaced one of the ball joints on Lisa's SC the other weekend. Only one, because the nut on the other would not budge! Took the air chisel to it for a while, and all it did was chew up the "loosen" surface of that slot in the nut.

Tightening the one joint was a pain, because the bottom of the hole in the A-arm was starting to interfere with the edges of the tool. The tool did not want to stay seated very well in the notches. I wound up putting a floor jack underneath it to hold it onto the nut. No fun at all!!

(And what idiot designed it so that you can't take the strut housing off the 911 without unhooking the brake lines and letting air in? Arrgh!!)

--DD