Originally Posted by So Many Roads

I used the Napa tie rod puller to separate the OTRE from the ball joint without any issues, fit perfectly.

NAPA AUTO PARTS

The Napa Pitman arm puller worked great to separate the ball joint from the lower control arm. It is slightly wider than the tie rod puller.

NAPA AUTO PARTS

Originally Posted by gmv4k

OK, I need a little help.

I can't seem to find an easy way to get the OTRE and the ball joint to separate. I've been using a NAPA rented puller and a 5 lb sledge hammer. I use the puller to add some force and then whack at it, I think this time it took 20 blows, it's frustrating. But does anybody have a link or a part number to a puller that will fit our trucks? I now have 2 different pullers but both won't fit and I'm sick of going to NAPA and renting one that doesn't really work.

I've had to take my lbj's apart twice now, since I snapped a head (1 of the 4) and can't get it out. I put everything back together because I ran out of time the last time. I did the same thing today, but I didn't finish because it got too cold. This time I got a map gas torch (ts8000 is pretty sick) but I was too scared to heat it up too much, stuff was starting to burn. I placed some roxul insulation, I had, behind it (but the torch got that stuff to melt). I tried to melt candle wax into it. I kroiled it for days/weeks. No luck. So I put everything back together. I think I'm either going to try to reverse drill it out or take it somewhere. I'm running out of time before it gets really cold.

So anybody know of a puller that'll work? I can tell you that this won't work

OEM 27022 Tie Rod/Pitman Arm Puller

OEM 27022 Tie Rod/Pitman Arm Puller - Amazon.com

The inner diameter isn't wide enough. I'd grind it out if I had a way to grind it out.

Originally Posted by slapdappy

pervasive short thread in support of Toyota OEM ball joints:
BALL JOINTS: Sankei 555 (Moog/Raybestos) Poor Quality/Design Flaw??? My Findings...

Originally Posted by bspurs

This thread was really helpful for me. I just installed new OEM lbj's today - the first front end job that I've taken on myself (did my lift with a friend). It was a good first job to take on!

I used this front end service kit from Advance Auto. I'm not sure which puller it's called, but I used the taller of the bunch, and it worked like a charm. I used it to separate the tie rod end, as well as the lbj, and they were broken loose in 30 seconds each. And, I was able to preserve and reuse the tie rod end. Would highly recommend this kit after all the trouble I'd read about people getting the tie rod loose.

Only hit a couple snags:

The cotter pin rusted and broke off, but after a while of messing with it, was able to pop it out with a punch.

I had a hard time on the first side getting the lower lbj bolt into the lower control arm - I just couldn't push it far enough in to get a few threads to pop through. I used a pry bar on the upper control arm, against the under side of the shock top hat, and that pushed the entire wheel assembly (and lbj) right into place. Repeated on the 2nd side for a much quicker install.

When trying to torque the 4 bolts on the lbj, the entire wheel assembly would turn too. I loosely reconnected the tie rod end to prevent the turning, and I was able to torque everything down that way.

All in all, took about 4 hours from set-up to clean up. Not bad.

Originally Posted by satek

Alright, so I managed to get the tie rod end off the lower ball joint on the passenger side after 4 tries. In the process, I messed up the boot on the outer tie rod end, so I'm currently trying to replace that. (I'm hoping I don't mess it up on the driver's side).

This entire LBJ is frustrating the crap out of me, and it's supposed to be super easy.



Now, I'm having problems getting the outer tie rod end off and the jam nut off... I soaked it with liquid wrench, put the tie rod end back in the knuckle to prevent it from turning. I'm turning counter clockwise which I'm pretty sure is correct.

Any tips for this one?