Ok... how the hell do you seperate the lower ball joint from the steering knuckel??? It was enough of a chore to remove the cotter pin and nut, but i can't freakin seperate those for the life of me. Do I have to remove the drive shaft from the wheel bearing?
This is such a pain in the ass...
Check it out, I just did this last week and had the same problem. Go to your local parts store (one that lends or sells tools) and get a ball-joint seperator. Should be 10-15 bucks, even rented. It'll have wedged pronges and you want those prongs on the top of the ball withe the wedge side fceing down (the black grease boot covers the ball, so you want the prongs right inside that lip of the boot). It won't go on all the way, so you'll need to tap the seperator with a hammer. It should wedge it free and then the the bolt end will slip out of the knuckle. I just did this job and had the same problem. Once you get it, you'll be shocked how easy it slips off once it's seperated.
BTW use lots of polyurethane grease on those bushings, they'll need it.
Hope My post will help you the way other people's helped me.
Jamie
Ha Ha... yea i just got them apart.. I dug out my haynes manual that has been missing for 6 mos now, it was under my cav's front seat which has been in storage, no wonder why i couldn't find it. They said use a BFH and Hit the sonfa.. then like durr... they came apart... Its only taken me 2.5 hrs to get one side done... ahhh.... I guess thats what happens when the car is 7 years old and rust forms.
I have a 2.5' section of 2" pipe, wedge inbetween the two and stand on the pipe. Pops right apart no problem.
Cool deal. Good luck with the rest of the install. Hope you like the new ride.
jamie
Thanks for the future information, I know how to get the rest done on these things and a hack saw was going to be my way to go. Taking the second side apart was much easier when you figure out the tricks from the first side. Then I heard trying to put them back in is another round of fun. I had a pain in the ass time trying to remove my lower Prothane engine mount... atleast the rear part where the bolt i had to get to was... but it came out eventually.. Ah well.. just need a night to hit up the RDFAB shop...
