What a nightmare. I had to cut the lip off of the joints in a hexagonal/octagonal fashion so I could have something to press against. This allowed me to do it in the car with out touching the alignment bolts or spring.
Here are some pics:

Pics of the way I cut the the BJ with a cutoff wheel.



Pic of the tool I made to press the BJ back into the control arm.


Finally got that sucker out! I thought it would never come out. I had to apply pressure with my otc C clamp using a breaker bar. Then whack that with a hammer for them to finally unseat. From there on out, they moved fairly easy.


Pic of the initial setup used to get the ball joint pressed back in.


Pic of the second stage setup (to compensate for the top of the ball joint protruding upward from the top side of the control arm)

 

Success!!



I left the vertical link hooked to the upper BJ and supported it with a jack stand. I am still waiting on the correct shocks so I can get those swapped in. The lower bushings are trashed, probably because the upper bushings also suck. I found some poly mustang control arm bushings I am going to modify to fit the upper shock mounts. The car drives like a dream with the new joints, I can still tell I have shock problems though.

I also replaced my coolant tank and all the tubes. Things are finally coming together for the old girl

 

Hi -
It's a bit unclear to me how you got the old balljoint out. What was the purpose of the cuts in your first photo? And what sort of tool did you use? I take it that the usual "pickle fork" remover can't be used? Thx.

 

A pickle fork tool is only for separating the vertical link from the ball joint. I was able to get one of my 3 different sized air-hammer driven pickle forks to work to separate it. So for those that say you do need the special ball joint separator, some pickle forks do work.

I pressed it out using that big C clamp you see in the pics (except in the pics I am pressing the new ones in.)

The cuts in the original photo can be explained like this: Check out the pic of the new ball joint installed on the arm. The very OD of the balljoint is practically the same size as the control arm is in that same spot. Since there is no "ledge" on the control arm for the receiver cup to sit, I had to make room for one by cutting the lip off of the ball joint. Notice in the first pic that the OD of the ball joint is much smaller than the control arm is, allowing me to rest a receiver cup there that the c clamp can press against while it also presses down on the top side of the ball joint. As the pressure from the c clamp increases, the ball joint is pushed downward into the receiver cup. The "tool" I made was a regular receiver cup I had modified to fit the top of the control arm, because they dont have a complete circle to rest a receiver cup on. I cut out the spot that keeps it from resting flush on top of the arm. If there are any more questions, just let me know.

 

Great job. Kudos to you!

 

Well done, it is a royal PITA to change. I used the exact same technigue to change mine. I used the same C clamp but I couldn't turn the screw on the C clamp any further so I smacked the C clamp with a big hammer and the ball joint finally let go. It sounded like a gun shot when it did.

 

Good Job!!! Now go get it aligned

 

I'll worry about the alignment later. It is a huge improvement and there is no pull.

 

are you changing the upper ball joints as well?

 

Nope, I am waiting for them to develop slack. They are still tight and I check them every time the front end is jacked up. I am going to do shocks as soon as I can get them here.

 

I will be doing this when I get into my home and your information was well received. How hard was it to cut the ring off? Could the ball joint be extracted without cutting the ring?

 

I have rebuilt lower control arms for the XK8 & XKR for $500 for the pair on an exchange basis. They are fitted with the oem ball joints sourced thru Jaguar & new bushings. This makes the job a simple swap.

 

I went through with this just so I wouldnt have to remove the arm! I read about the nightmares people were having even with the "correct" spring compressor. Using a 2.5-3" cutoff wheel, I was able to hack the ring totally off after about probably 10 mins of cutting per side, maybe less. Once you do this, you can use normal ball joint tools to get the job done, aside from the "custom" upper receiver cup seen in the second pic (this one is used only for the top side of the arm, to receive the top of the ball joint.)

Some more quick info on the ring: The shop manual tells you to totally remove the arm from the car (screw that!) The next thing it shows is for you to cut a piece of the ring off exactly opposite the other side (a cut 180* from the first cut.) This allows you to rest it on an arbor in a press. And the rest is history, except it is way cooler to use a giant C-clamp (you can rent these from parts stores if you dont have one) and cut the entire lip off. Then you can use regular tools!

Another downside, IMO of removing the arm is that you then have to remove the cam bolts on the arm, which set the alignment. Doing it my way, the arm is exactly where it was before the ball joint ever developed slack, which is the beauty of doing them on the car. Of course alignments are always recommended, but if its driving just fine I see no need to worry with that. Save the money for some beer and smiles on a job well done!

I also had to mention, anytime either of the ball joints is separated from the vertical link and the spring is not locked down in a compressor, you must have a jack under the control arm holding the spring in place. Notice the red jack you see in all my pics. It never moved, except to push the lower arm even higher. HOT TIP: the further out under the lower control arm you put the jack (do not get in the way of the pressing tools), the more the spring will compress. This will be vital during reinstallation since I had problems on one side because the jack was too far inboard. As a result, the spring didnt compress as much and I had to fight to get the ball joint stud into the hole on the vertical link. On the next side, I learned from my mistakes and had the shaft in the hole within minutes due to all the extra clearance. Cheers!

 

Question:

Would it have been possible to avoid the clamp altogether by sliding a receiver cup, greased washer(s) and a nut onto the ball joint stud and cranking down the nut to pull the balljoint into the receiver cup?

 

The ball joint on this model comes in butt first, not shaft first, so this is not possible. I see what you are saying though. If it did go shaft first and you were able to rig up a setup like this, I would presume that the ball joint shaft would spin before much pressing actually happened. I would say thats not possible on any ball joint due to that.
The shafts spin VERY easily on worn out joints. I can only imagine it doesnt take much to spin new ones (probably 50 ft-lbs or less). It will take much more than 50 ft-lbs of torque to push these things out and in though. Trust me

LOL This happened to me too...on both sides!! I thought they were never going to come out and a nice hard whack on the c clamp made them pop down just a bit. Talk about interference fits!

 

Still not clear ... but if the butt end is the first to touch the control arm during installation, then it should be possible as long as the relief is cut, except that as you noted the stud will spin.

How about zapping the stud to the remaining flange with an arc welder?

Not arguing ... just asking

 

I think I see what you are saying. Pulling out the ball joint into a receiver cup that has a hole in it for the stud to stick through by tightening the nut to pull the joint into the cup. I think it would have a chance to work if you welded the shaft to the ball joint body to prevent spinning. There is still the problem of the length of threaded shaft vs. the distance the ball joint has to move to be out. It looks like it has to move about 3/4" or more, which may be more than the shaft distance you have left after adding a cup, washers, and nut. That is just the kinda thinking you need though when the going gets tough. I am always interested in hearing out of the box ideas on things.

 

This is an interesting challenge! I wonder if it would be possible to drill out the pressed-in portion? Or is the ball joint top hardened steel? Or maybe the control arm could be warmed with a heat gun, and then the ball joint rapidly chilled with (say) some liquid nitrogen? Then a solid smack from above might drive it out....

 

... multiple receiver cups of different heights, just like having to change the setup during installation because of the butt end flange sticking up

 

With different cup heights and a welded shaft, that would work great to get them out, but you still have to go back in with them.

I would be leary of heating arms. I have done it in the past on a couple of other vehicles in times of desperation and never had any problems, but heating the control arm until its red may change the characteristics of the metal in that area. Thats why people always say its a "no no." Not to mention the much larger amounts of damage you can do it while swinging a hammer on it red hot, versus cold steel.