Well I got my 20 ton press today from harbor freight and after assembling it I pressed out the upper and lower ball joints on the drivers side wishbones. Fun times lol. The upper came out nice and slow, took some pressure but nothing too crazy. The lower ball joint put up a fight, took a little bit to set wishbone correctly to press it out, and I maxed out the jack on the press thinking uh oh, now what? Then BANG! Wishbone fell out and impact socket I was using to press it out flew across the garage! To my surprise, the lower ball joint only came half way out and I just set it up on a couple blocks of wood and two whacks with a BFH and it was out. Upper wish bone bushings are out but I can’t get the lower bushings out as it won’t fit correctly in the press, since I forgot to grab a t-60 to separate the two lowers. Once I separate them, the bushings should come right out. Then it’s on to the hubs to press out the bearings, sandblast and paint everything, and reassemble, then rinse and repeat for passengers side. Oh yeah and the shocks are getting replaced too, I’m gonna make a holder for them for the press to make it easier….stay tuned lol!

 

I have a shaped wedge for lower arm to enable a square on press of ball joint. Uses a couple of simple links to sway bar bolt hole to locate in position.

 

A gas torch would probably have made things easier. My bearings would never have pressed out without serious heat and I was using a 50 ton press. ☹

Richard

 

I was able to get the lower bushings out, using the 20ton press without taking things apart, only remember that it was quite the PITA. As for installing the lower ball joint - I used a 4x4 as a brace to the arm - it does have a bit of give and you will need to readjust the arm as you press the ball joint in but is doable

 

Well I brought home the makita 1/2 drive cordless impact gun and an impact t-60 bit and the lower control arm bolts came right out to separate them. Spent a good while on the lower rearward arm trying to get the bushing out with no luck on the new 20 ton press. I’ll admit I only have the two plates that came with it and a handful of impact large diameter metric deep sockets as press tools. No luck with this lame setup lol. I’ve got a bunch of scrap steel plate, bar, channel and pipe at my shop I’ll have to dig through tomorrow, as well as a Lincoln tombstone welder my grandpa gave me before he passed(it’s older than I am and has already fixed a few trucks and trailers of mine) to do something better, or buy a good set of press accessories. For anyone who needs a good laugh, this was the setup I tried, no judgment please I’m working with what I got at the house lol!

 

Nothing wrong with that press set up.

 

Well that was my thoughts exactly until the bushing didn’t come out and my secondary jack(6-Ton) and upper part of a jack stand flew off and I just had to laugh and post for others amusement/entertainment/educational knowledge lol. Like I said it’s a 97 xk8 69k mi but the age of everything has affected more than the usage. These bushings are stock and seized, and I honestly thought that they would come out easier than the lower ball joint… point of story; “never assume, it makes an ‘***’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’ “. And man I feel like an ***, lol! Just want these out so I can tackle hubs / bearings, and I want to bring everything to my shop to sandblast so I can paint.

 

RichardS; I have a newer bottle of MAP gas but I only have torch heads for propane and they don’t seem to work very good with the Map bottles.

 

I'm afraid that I don't know anything about MAP gas.
I have a propane torch but it wasn't really hot enough as these are large parts and there was too much heat conduction. I had to borrow an oxyacetylene torch which could get the parts up to dull red before they would let go. I was concerned that the 50T press would end up snapping the bearing carrier which is now only available through breakers yards in the UK.
You might be luckier than I was and force alone might do the trick but be careful not to damage the part or, more importantly, yourself.

Richard

 

looks like you can raise the bottom cross bar up a notch which should give better results - when I did mine, I think it was a 19mm impact socket I used to press it out

 

Got the lower bushings out, I used a smaller socket to press out as much of the rubber inside as I could. Then I clamped it in the vise and used a hacksaw to saw a line down the metal outermost part of the bushings. Once I did that it relieved some of the pressure and they came right out. I got the abs ring off the hub by bolting it to my tire, and used the special socket and a 3/4 drive breaker bar and a hammer, with a board cut with a hole in it over the socket to keep down pressure on it so it didn’t jump.



I stood on the board for down pressure on the socket and a few good whacks with hammer and it was loose.

 

Well everything is officially pressed out on all my front drivers side control arms and hub/carrier components. Upper and lower ball joints, (took the 20 ton press, upper easy and lower a bit of force) all upper arm bushings(came out by hand or slight persuasion, no press needed), the lower arm bushings put up one heck of a fight, both came out in pieces, took a hacksaw, vise, 20 ton press, a lot of curse words, but again it’s a 28 year old car with original parts. The hub is pressed out of knuckle, took special socket and some ingenuity to get abs ring off but do able, pressed hub o,?€7