Drop arm ball joint

Hi again,

It looks like we are having a string of bad luck... just after the camshaft pully retainingbolt incident we have some play in drop arm ball joint (and torn gaiter) and I have a rebuild kit with and read how it can be changed in situ. So I went about removing the securing bolt and torn gaiter, the securing clip and banged and the top of the ball joint expecting the mess to fall out... well no such luck, so I banged some more but without the space I don't have the leverage to wack it good. I tried to convince it to come out with a c clamp with no luck...

And now I am a bit frustrated especially since we are miles and miles from anywhere...and I have limited tools available...

How the hell can I get the bloody thing off?

The balljoint that's currently installed had a grease nipple installed which is not like we have in the kit. And the facking backplate won't come out!

Thanks for the help

Gary

bottom plate is retained by a circlip which you relieve the spring pressure on it by using a jack and a suitable bolt or socket to poush plate up so enabling you too remove the circlip,removing the top seat will need a special tool

da1125 is on such tool

Circlip is out, but the bottom plate won't budge. Hammered on it, Wd40, hammered some more, used the jack to push from the bottom, hammered some more. Lowered the jack and hammered some more still the plate won't come off.

Any ideas on how to remove the stuck plate? I don't have any specialist tools using the ideas from this forum entry on lr4x4 http://forums.lr4x4.com/topic/14338-drop-arm-ball-joint-change-insitu/

Can you unscrew the grease nipple and thread a bolt into the hole, pushing the cap out? Or, get a g-clamp and push the ball joint out from the top? (Similar to the write up you posted but with a large socket below instead of a flat piece to allow the cap somewhere to go) Put the nut back on the top aswell before any hammering or force is applied and then you can still put it back together if need be because you have protected the thread.

It looks like the hole in the bottom of the arm has got a bit burred over, which may be helping to hold the plate in. If so, it might be possible to do a bit of (delicate) chiselling, or maybe if you have something like a Dremel or die grinder available use that.

Or maybe I'm just looking at lumps of dirt!

Looks like that's the circlip to me ...

If all else fails, drill a line of holes across the plate and split it with a chisel. Brutal, but you are replacing it anyway. If you can find a bolt with the same thread as the grease nipple you could screw it in to force the plate off, although if it's really that stuck it will probably just split the threads.

Yes, that thing at the 6 o'clock position looks a bit like the tabs on the clip. But it looks a bit far out to me.

Reminds me of the times I've struggled to get cylinder heads off, only to discover I've forgotten to take out one of the bolts.

Brown said:

Yes, that thing at the 6 o'clock position looks a bit like the tabs on the clip. But it looks a bit far out to me.

Reminds me of the times I've struggled to get cylinder heads off, only to discover I've forgotten to take out one of the bolts.

Click to expand...

That is dirt I belive in the photo, the circlip broke as I took it out and I spent time making sure nothing was still in the channel.

I will give it a try with screwing a screen in and seeing if I can pull it out that way.

Another possibility is to drill the hole out a bit bigger and find a bit of metal you can use as a drift, bang it in the hole and then bang it sideways to prise the plate out. Then if that doesn't work drill some more holes and see if you can break up the plate as per Zeaphod, above.

Got it sorted thanks for all the help!

I ended up using easy outs in the nipple hole and banging it sideways with a hammer..and plop it all came tumbling out...

The circlip was a pita without the proper pliers!

Glad you got it sorted.