tips on replacing the ball joints?

[autoaloha]

I've got the nuts loose, the ball joint just won't seem to break free. Any tips? thanks in advance.

edit: alright, got it with the heat gun. now onto the strut nut... 8mm vs. 19mm... any tips here?

none of the write-ups i've seen have these crucial pieces of advice.

[wess02]

use lots of heat. when i did mine, they were original and could not even identify where the big nut was it was just a pile of solid rust(inside the pitman arm/ steering knuckle). my dad and i oxy torched it and just broke the nut off(heat it up cherry red hot and split the nut with a cold chisel) and pounded the taper end of the ball joint. total time spend was between 1 and 2 hours.

[eurotrash]

Electric or pneumatic impact wrench. Lay it down. Foot on the spring and zip it off. Don't be afraid. It's very anticlimactic.

[autoaloha]

use lots of heat. when i did mine, they were original and could not even identify where the big nut was it was just a pile of solid rust(inside the pitman arm/ steering knuckle). my dad and i oxy torched it and just broke the nut off(heat it up cherry red hot and split the nut with a cold chisel) and pounded the taper end of the ball joint. total time spend was between 1 and 2 hours.

naw, i got the bottom ones okay, actually ended up just having to shear off the cotter pin. the top one was giving me the gruff. the strut itself has a miniscule 8mm end, and the nylon nut it 19mm. wth? had to use a pipe wrench between the spring to free the strut to spindle fastener. Then, with the strut end(it was blown and getting trashed) in the vise and a vise grip on the 8mm end, assisted by copious amounts of PB Blaster, I was able to just crack the nut with an long box 19mm. whew.

[1453aalapapa]

use lots of heat. when i did mine, they were original and could not even identify where the big nut was it was just a pile of solid rust(inside the pitman arm/ steering knuckle). my dad and i oxy torched it and just broke the nut off(heat it up cherry red hot and split the nut with a cold chisel) and pounded the taper end of the ball joint. total time spend was between 1 and 2 hours.

naw, i got the bottom ones okay, actually ended up just having to shear off the cotter pin. the top one was giving me the gruff. the strut itself has a miniscule 8mm end, and the nylon nut it 19mm. wth? had to use a pipe wrench between the spring to free the strut to spindle fastener. Then, with the strut end(it was blown and getting trashed) in the vise and a vise grip on the 8mm end, assisted by copious amounts of PB Blaster, I was able to just crack the nut with an long box 19mm. whew.

are you a kamaaina? i got this the other day. i was 2 months, 2 days old

[Mike Self]

fill the hollow space where the ball joint nut goes with wheel bearing grease, after carefully cleaning off the mating surfaces on the bottom of the strut and the top of the steering arm. Then the next time you (or a subsequent owner) has to do this job, that castle nut will come right out and the cotter pin won't even be rusty. And don't forget to use loctite and safety wire on the three special bolts that hold strut and steering arm together.

cheers

mike

[tito559]

use lots of heat. when i did mine, they were original and could not even identify where the big nut was it was just a pile of solid rust(inside the pitman arm/ steering knuckle). my dad and i oxy torched it and just broke the nut off(heat it up cherry red hot and split the nut with a cold chisel) and pounded the taper end of the ball joint. total time spend was between 1 and 2 hours.

Mine also looked like a ball of rust but I used a dremel and ground down the nut. It did not really take much time at all to do the job. It took me longer to find the dusty dremel and grinding bits than it did to get it done.

Good luck

[autoaloha]

use lots of heat. when i did mine, they were original and could not even identify where the big nut was it was just a pile of solid rust(inside the pitman arm/ steering knuckle). my dad and i oxy torched it and just broke the nut off(heat it up cherry red hot and split the nut with a cold chisel) and pounded the taper end of the ball joint. total time spend was between 1 and 2 hours.

naw, i got the bottom ones okay, actually ended up just having to shear off the cotter pin. the top one was giving me the gruff. the strut itself has a miniscule 8mm end, and the nylon nut it 19mm. wth? had to use a pipe wrench between the spring to free the strut to spindle fastener. Then, with the strut end(it was blown and getting trashed) in the vise and a vise grip on the 8mm end, assisted by copious amounts of PB Blaster, I was able to just crack the nut with an long box 19mm. whew.

are you a kamaaina? i got this the other day. i was 2 months, 2 days old

wow. what a video... i almost choked up... are you richard sullivan or? if you're on oahu, I live in Kapahulu and would like to talk 02s anytime. 916 799 6607

-ken

[1453aalapapa]

use lots of heat. when i did mine, they were original and could not even identify where the big nut was it was just a pile of solid rust(inside the pitman arm/ steering knuckle). my dad and i oxy torched it and just broke the nut off(heat it up cherry red hot and split the nut with a cold chisel) and pounded the taper end of the ball joint. total time spend was between 1 and 2 hours.

naw, i got the bottom ones okay, actually ended up just having to shear off the cotter pin. the top one was giving me the gruff. the strut itself has a miniscule 8mm end, and the nylon nut it 19mm. wth? had to use a pipe wrench between the spring to free the strut to spindle fastener. Then, with the strut end(it was blown and getting trashed) in the vise and a vise grip on the 8mm end, assisted by copious amounts of PB Blaster, I was able to just crack the nut with an long box 19mm. whew.

are you a kamaaina? i got this the other day. i was 2 months, 2 days old

wow. what a video... i almost choked up... are you richard sullivan or? if you're on oahu, I live in Kapahulu and would like to talk 02s anytime. 916 799 6607

-ken

i am not sullivan. we used to live in lanikai, hence the 1453aalapapa. now we live in north texas. i went to kailua elem/inter/high, wasted 6 years, then grad uh manoa in 73. we started the bmw car club of hawaii way back when. stan ahn, darrell bareng(1st president), gerard simoes, geoff and elarka yuen, peter and lynette char, roland and susan thom, mike lau, dennis tanimoto, this was about when the 320i first came out, like 1976. we miss the food