I'm replacing my ball joints and I can't believe how much rust is in there in just few years (09 JK). I had trouble disassembling everything just to get to the BJ's, so I knew I'll be in for a treat when time comes to remove them. The first BJ I'm trying to remove is the upper and I can't get it budge! I have a 16" breaker bar and put all the force I can give it, but it just doesn't go anywhere. Tomorrow I will go buy a 36" breaker bar, and a blow torch (or maybe even 2), and will bake it in fury. Does anyone have any other helpful tips to get that sucker moving?

 

Maybe go to AutoZone and rent a 4wd ball joint removal tool and u can use it to install the new Bj's too

 

I have the 4wd press. But the ball joint is not moving.

 

I helped replace a friends and it is an absolute pain. New ones popped in pretty well, but the old ones barely came out.

 

Did you soak everything with PB blaster or wd40 . I soaked everything down night before and again in the morning when I replaced my ball joints. I guess it helped but still was a pain.

 

Oops! I meant u joints but almost the same parts being taken off

 

No, I haven't done that. I'm thinking the rust is inside the opening where ball joint is sitting, and me spraying on top of ball joint won't do anything. But I'll go try that anyway. Won't hurt.

 

Pb blaster will soak through and should work. That stuff is awsome

 

When I did my ZJ last spring (virtually the same D30 front axle) I wound up using the 36" handle from my floor jack as a cheater pipe over my breaker bar on the press.

You are exactly right that they were rusted into the knuckles. I used both heat and PB Blaster in great quantities. I can't say for sure what actually made a difference and what didn't, but it took a LOT of force to break them loose.

When I installed the new ones, I coated them liberally with anti seize. The ZJ only has 200k miles on it, so it will be around for a while yet!

Good luck!
Tom

 

Wow, just wow, but I finally got them out, both of them!!! I bought today a 3/4 drive 36" breaker bar rated to 800 ft-lbs, and a torch. I could not imagine doing it with anything less than a 36" breaker bar. It took some time and effort to get the upper BJ out. I was tightening and heating it after a few turns, but nothing was moving. I was getting desperate, because I started to think I'm not going to get it out. In the end I heated it so hard, it started to char on the inside (I took out the BJ guts), poured some cold water on it, and then started to tighten. And then finally "snap"! What a relief...

So then I moved onto the lower one. This one I got out a lot quicker, but it seemed to be more rusted and like I had to put a lot more force on the breaker bar to the point where I had to push and jerk it forward in order to tighten more. But then the lower BJ gave up too, and now I had both BJ's out.

I haven't pressed in the new BJ's yet, and will leave it for the weekend. In the meantime it seems like I bent the press after I was done with the upper BJ:



Do you guys think I'll be fine pressing in new BJ's with this press? Or should I get a new one? I was able to push the old ones "fine" even with it bent like this.