Trying to remove lower balljoint from hub

[cloead]

Just got this wrx in to work on and can't for the life of me get the balljoint out of the hub assembly.

Any tips/tricks I should know of? I already have the a-arm dropped. Just need to get the balljoint out of the hub. Then I'm assuming I'll have to have the new one pressed in somewhere?

Any help would be appreciated.

[EvoEatr]

do this exactly..believe me Ive done dozens of them..lol.. reinstall the caslte nut for the balljoint and a arm on the car...undo the pinch bolt for the ball joint..using a suitable tool as an extension ( I usually use a jack handle ) stick that on the lower a arm from the top and angle it out so you can smash the end with a hammer...once you have it out of the hub its 1000 times easier to get it out of the control arm....You dont have to press them in and out either...you can use a small chisel to wedge in between the pinch bolt "keyway" to spread it some, but dont spread it to far or else the holes wont line back up and your pinch bolt wont reinstall....

[cloead]

do this exactly..believe me Ive done dozens of them..lol.. reinstall the caslte nut for the balljoint and a arm on the car...undo the pinch bolt for the ball joint..using a suitable tool as an extension ( I usually use a jack handle ) stick that on the lower a arm from the top and angle it out so you can smash the end with a hammer...once you have it out of the hub its 1000 times easier to get it out of the control arm....You dont have to press them in and out either...you can use a small chisel to wedge in between the pinch bolt "keyway" to spread it some, but dont spread it to far or else the holes wont line back up and your pinch bolt wont reinstall....

yeah that would be awesome, but the reason im replacing it is because the threads on the balljoint are gone... i was taking the car on a test drive and the castle nut (not actually a castle nut anymore, someone replaced it with a regular nut) shot off, and the a arm hit the ground. so when i tried that technique, it simply shot the nut off and into the ground.. getting me nowhere.

i took the whole hub off the car so i could work on it easier, and for the life of me i cant get that stupid balljoint out. used some heat, lots of hammering, and it wont budge. kinda stuck now

[EvoEatr]

hmmm..well never ran into that..um..wow..if you find out how to get that sucker out let me in on it..seriously..lol...OH..BE CAREFUL heating that sucker up..Ive had ball joints explode on me before and thank god Ive had safety glasses on or else I would prob be blind thanks to some boiling grease...

[cloead]

hah i will take that in to consideration. thanks

and ill update this thread if i ever get the damn thing out

[cloead]

finally got it out.. used a lot of heat, a huge screwdriver to pry open the gap, and another smaller screwdriver to pound it out.

put the new balljoint in, car back together, drove it down the street, and the axle broke.

any tips on removing an axle from the tcase?