Absolutely cannot budge the upper ball joint (any ideas?)

deedubb

deedubb

New member
Hello,

I tried today to put my daystar spacer lift. Read the instructions, no spring compression needed. Simple, right? NOPE! (not for me anyway).

I'm pretty handy and have done much harder projects before but this has me scratching my head. I got the whole front disassembled as per daystar instructions in like 15 mins....until I got to the drivers side upper ball joint.

I cannot budge it at all. I've tried a dead blow hammer, pickle fork (trashed my boot), PB spray several times, pulley puller (broke 2 sets!), pry bars, I even tried a ball joint press (trying to press it out). Nothing worked at all and it won't budge.

I've never seen something stick this hard before suspension wise. I talked to the local parts stores, they're out of ideas. They recommended me cutting the bolt, drilling it out and replacing my UCA. I think that's a bit much to install a cheap lift but wanted to check here first.

Any ideas at all, please share.

Thanks,

Dave
 
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There's a special tool for splitting those ball joints. Pittman ball join splitter or something (don't trust that name at all, it's late).

I believe Toyota recommends replacing the cotter pin after splitting it but I don't know how many people actually do? I've not cracked open the suspension on my truck yet personally, just a combo of what I've read and seen when peeking at it.
 
Drive the pickle fork in until its wedged so tight it wont move anymore, if it bottoms out use another from the other side. Once it jambed as tight as can be heat the area around the stud with a torch and it will come apart in a few minuteswith a big TWANG...if not leave the forks overnight and chances are in the morning it will be apart....
 
Thanks for the ideas fellas. I think I'll try to take it out from the bottom today first. It appears in doing some searching it may work.
 
Arghh dammit! That would have saved me so much grief yesterday. I should have searched a bit better!

Thanks!
 
Levinz11 said:
Or you can totally skip the ball joints by separating the upper and lower control arms. Much, much easier this way.

Read this http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/68638-daystar-2-5-1-5-install.html
Click to expand...

^^^Those are the instructions that I followed. Helped out sooooo much compared to the included Daystar instructions. I didn't touch the ball joints. Watch out for the jack falling out, though. Just about took it in the junk.:wow:

SHOW ME YOUR WAR FACE!:ak472:
 
UteRunner said:
^^^Those are the instructions that I followed. Helped out sooooo much compared to the included Daystar instructions. I didn't touch the ball joints. Watch out for the jack falling out, though. Just about took it in the junk.:wow:

SHOW ME YOUR WAR FACE!:ak472:
Click to expand...

The jack fell on me too. Left a real nice bruise on my hip.:rockthrow:
 
I separated the upper/lower control arms as mentioned above and it worked like a charm :) The rears took me literally 15 mins. Thanks for the help guys!

The Runner goes into 4wheelparts Monday for Duratecs, limited wheels, spidertrax spacers and an alignment. I can't wait :)
 
Jerrydog said:
Well since you killed teh boot with athe pickle fork you still have to separate the ball joint....
Click to expand...

Yeah I was hoping it would fix itself lol

I'm exhausted with that part so I'll have to take it in as soon as it becomes noisy. I hope I can find the boot and have it pressed in rather than replacing the whole UCA as some have stated.
 
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