Where can I buy a ball joint separator and a tie rod separator I need them to do my lift according to the instructions, to get the spindle off.

 

Auto-Zone Rents them for free, other then that you can probally buy one at any auto parts store

 

Awesome I didnt know they did that for free! I also just found a search that said lots of people just use a hammer and beat it off. Thanks alot!

 

That works too, just becareful not to damage the threads.

 

Yeah I was thinking about that. Do you know anything bout the tie rods will a hammer work on them to?

 

With the tie rods a hammer should work just fine. As for the ball joints I don't think just a hammer will work you might need a tuning fork to help pry them out. If you can get a hold of a ball joint press that would be the easiest way to go about it

 

Alright thanks alot I will just rent from autozone.

 

if you use a hammer, leave the nut on the joint or tie rod end, above the threads on the stud, so you will hammer on the nut and not the threads, until it pops loose.

 

Actually you only need a ball joint press for taking the ball joint out of the control arm not for removing it from the spindle.


But in reply here, pickle forks work well but they do tear up the boot of the tie rod ends and ball joints usually so i find it pointless using them on reuseable parts. If you take the tie rod end nut off spin it back on upside down flush with the threads and whack the top of it if you must or else you can just hit the spindle in the same spot. As for the ball joint you want to loosen the nut all the way to the top of the ball joint because there is deadly spring pressure if you just take the ball joint nut off and hammer it. Loosen the nut to the top and beat the part of the spindle where the ball joint goes in. Remember WD-40 is your friend.

 

I have used a 3-arm gear puller with great success for removing lower ball joints. For upper ball-joints, a pry-bar and a hammer work quite well.

 

i will say this bout bangin on the balljoint and TRE, hit it to hard, and you trash it.... i've hit balljoints on different occassions and once i get them out the are loose and just flop around, and didn't want to try to re-install then find out they were bad... so i don't know how good of an idea it is to just bang on the balljoints.....

 

Vegas auto zone charges full price to rent and then upon return you get full price back so they can insure you bring it back,,,

 

I used a hammer, no problems, I used gentle tapping/nudging and the poped out with ease, and no problems after reinstalling.

 

Although it may have been mentioned in another post, I had an issue with separating the lower ball joint from the spindle control arm on my friends 05 ranger with torsion bar front suspension. The tie rod ball joint and the upper ball joint came apart with a few taps of a hand held sledge, brass drift and PB blaster but the lower one, no way at all. I used a pickle fork and sledge and in no way would it separate. I ended up getting the 25112 low profile ball joint separator tool on Amazon, there are several brand names but just search on "25112 Ball Joint Separator" and you will find them. This tool separated the stubborn and frozen lower ball joint from the spindle arm fairly easily. I ended up putting on the castle nut in reverse to hold the screw part of the tool in place. On the tool there is a removable nut, I removed the nut on the tool and used the stem of the threaded bolt to cup itself in the castle nut at the end of the ball joint so that it wouldn't slip off when the bolt on the tool was tightened. Soaking the ball joint in PB blaster helped, with a few snug turns of the tool it finally popped and it came right off. Just to confirm, this tool 25112 is for separating the ball joint from the spindle control arm and is not for removing and installing the ball joint from the lower control arm itself. This press method sure beats using a pickle fork and a sledge hammer and beating on everything and risking damaging the ball joint itself or the boot. Hope this info helps someone else because it sure helped me.