I made a trip to Eugene Oregon to my Dad's place, while here we dicided to replace my ball joints. Well we cannot get the hub lose. We have tried tuning steering wheel with socket and extension on back of hub and it kept slipping off and nothing moved. Do not want mess up my bearings. Can anyone steer us the right way. Looked for hours on net not finding what I need. Thanks for any advise offered.

I recently removed mine and it was a pain in the butt. Are you putting the extension on one of the 4 bolts that secure the hub? I used a 4" extension and it worked like a dream. I did it by myself which took a lot more time and made it much more difficult, but had I a helper to hold the extension it would have been much easier. I'll try to find a link to the you tube video that helped me.

 

Edited April 6, 201510 yr by Hawkez

You can delay and soak the hub for a while in oil.  An old trick is to hammer on the outside radius of the upright that the hub bolts into to try to jar it loose, and i mean HARD.  This works on ball joints also if a pickle fork isn't enough.  

 

Last time I did ball joints, I had to buy one new unit bearing though.  It happens.  I think Rock Auto has the best price.

Edited April 6, 201510 yr by CSM

Cut the balljoints

Press out

I just done a 3rd Gen a week ago and we beat on that hub for quite a while to get it to move. Eventually the hub moved and we kept beating on the bolts to get it out. Using a grinder straighten out the beat bolts. But during the installation of the bearing we mopped on the anti-seize on everything.

I did both my front unit bearings and used a puller each time. Both bearings came out in pieces...the socket and wheel turning trick is the best method if you want to reuse the hub/unit bearing.

i spent 5hrs beating my DS hub out it was bonded into the carriage badly. i ruined it by doing so, but anti sieze wont let that happen again! i tried all the tricks... nothing worked, cept beating and prying

This forum is assume

You people have help me again. I'll try at it again this morning a and let you know what happen.

Good luck.  I messed up a couple of bots swinging a mallet to break it loose and like Michael I was able to clean them up with a bench grinder.  When I put it back together and put anti seize and everything. 

Worse case, rockauto, timken, made in USA. I think about $180 each

I sacrificed a Craftsman 9/16 socket and beat on it so I wouldn't mess up the $15 a piece bolts. Gives you a little more to hit on too.

timkens are very worth it and good bearings too

I use impact socket and impact extension and beat on them after I go around the unit with a propane torch and heat the radius just a bit and then work the outer diameter with a hammer and then go after the bolts with impact socket and extension, has worked every time for me without too much effort. Trick I think is to work it out evenly once you notice it move a bit on one side move to the next side or it will bind even harder. Usually have to grind just a bit of mushroom off the end of the extension when done and that's about it, no damage to anything else. The other thing is I only back the bolts out about a couple turns max as to not bend them and or damage the threads and keep working it around until bolt heads hit and then back them out another couple turns till she is out.

 

I think some people back the bolts out too far and then you have less surface area via the threads actually transferring force or energy to the hub. You actually get a shock absorber action or flex through the bolt instead.

Hey I got the drivers side apart thanks to advice from here. BUT the ball joint is a -itch. Try everything, rented ball joint press and 3/4 impact with 175 lbs psi to not move any. Yes snap ring is out:). Where I have the truck there is no way to tow it so it has to be fixed. Guys you a did it before in helping in a bad spot so what is your advice this time?

Did you try to tighten the ball joint press, then while it's tight, whack the tension bolt good and hard, snug again, and whack again and repeat. Heating the knuckle in one spot (thinnest) will help to open the bore like a hinge as well.

heat and hammer  on housing with full pressure on it. Or torch it out. You are replacing them so no need to be gentle or try to save anything at this point.

Did the heat hammer with tension. Red hot.

How bout renting an acetylene torch and just blowing it out?

I have that and used it to heat ball joint area,not the ball joint.

If you have access to a shop press I set mine up like pictured when doing ball joints, most times I never have to touch the torches but sometimes it needs a little heat on the knuckle to open it up some to break the ball joint loose.

Did the heat hammer with tension. Red hot.

That's your issue, I said a little heat, red hot gets everything hot and expands together including the ball joint so you are just as tight as before heating it. A bit of heat to the housing is all it takes but not red hot.