ball joint bolt/nut removal ?

[Blip01]

**I searched but didn't find this specific problem addressed anywhere!**

I diagnosed a bad lower ball joint on the driver's side of my 2001 LS. Boot was torn slightly, creaking at low speed starts/stops, etc.

Picked up a used knuckle at a local salvage yard and was ready to install it but ran into a problem removing the original knuckle.

Started with the upper ball joint nut. I used an 8mm(?) socket to hold the "hex" end of the bolt, while using a wrench to turn the nylon insert nut. Initially no problem, a lot of resistance, but was backing off the nut fine.

When I got the nut almost all the way down the bolt I ran into a problem. The nut started to contact the socket that was holding the "hex" end of the bolt, which is needed to keep the ball joint from spinning of course, and at some point the socket could no longer hold the "hex" end of the bolt because the nut had backed it off too much. The nut was still too tight for me to remove it without having that socket on there, but I couldn't have the socket on because the nut was in the way. Catch 22. I tried a pair of vise grips on the top part of that bolt, but they wouldn't hold it tight enough so I could get the nut off the rest of the way and I didn't want to risk screwing the threads up so I stopped.

I was able to get the nut back up the bolt, so everything is back together, but I need to get that ball joint replaced at some point soon.

Is there some secret here I'm missing? Special tool to hold the "hex" end of the bolt? Should there be that much resistance from the nylon insert nut that I can't get it off easily at the bottom of that bolt?

thanks for any insight into this problem!

 

[milehighmikey]

Glad you could get the nut back up the ball joint.

I agree, there is a fine line between grip and no grip on those hex holding feature stubs. Your best bet is to use a combination of things. First, use a 1/4" drive socket. Second, clean and lube the threads of the ball joint, using a wire brush and anti-seize compound to ensure that you get the mechanical advantage over the corrosion. If these measures do not help, then get a 6-point 8 mm (1/4") socket that you can modify and then cleanly grind the nose off the socket so that it is capable of gripping the stub as soon as it makes contact. I found that in removing mine(s) lol, the moment that the socket lost grip, the nylock nut also gave up its grip as well and the last turn was able to be done with no holding of the ball joint.

Good luck. You may want to install a new nut on that ball joint. I found that the dealers have a hard time getting them, but my local NAPA store had plenty on hand (and they were located directly across the street from the LM dealer!)

If the ground socket does not do the trick, then you may have to resort to a destructive mega grip on the ball joint to get the nut off for good. You may also have better luck if you can clamp the steering knuckle to the lower control arm to re-create the installed fit, which can help resist the urge to turn on the part of the ball joint. The last time this happened to me, on my Marauder, I had to use a reciprocating saw with a ceramic tile cutting grit blade to separate the nut end of the ball joint from the other end of the ball joint. The part that really sucked balls was that there was nothing wrong with the ball joint to begin with, I was just removing it to replace the shocks, which requires the upper ball joint to be removed. This was all due to corrosion on the ball joint threads and the nylock nut. On the marauder, the hex holding feature is internal to the ball joint stud, and you use an allen wrench on that to hold it for nut removal. In my case, it got so difficult to turn that the allen wrench started slipping internally, and I was instantly f*ed.

Did you get the rest of the attachments to the steering knuckle off without incident?

 

[Blip01]

Good suggestions Mike. I did think about grinding the socket down, but didn't have the time, as you can see where you'd get a few more millimeters of room if you did. I'll definitely gie that a try.

I'll clean the threads up also, though they didn't look too bad.

It seems like they could just add another 1/2" of hex to grab at the end of that bolt and life would be sweet.

I didn't get to any other parts as I stopped everything once I got stuck on the upper ball joint bolt. I imagine the lower bolt is going to be about the same, though it looked like a bigger bolt.