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Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:32 am

For my whole life, well since 14 when this Vw deal started. I've shied away from balljoint projects because (insert random excuse) but in reality it's because I was scared of the ball joints and required replacement on anything as old as these things.
I've rebuild a kingpin beam several times, whoa what a son of a gun. My latest project forced me to tear down the balljoint beam for a rebuild. Well after sitting painted up beside the new balljoint a for a year I finally dove in. Tools involved, torch, big sockets, big hammer. Nothing fancy.
This beam was beyond crusty, rusty as any from a 66ghia. Anyway I removed them using heat and a hammer. Reinstalled by putting the new joints in the freezer and applying gentle heat to the arm. Just warm it up good, barely past as hot as I could touch it. It took 15-20 whacks per joint to do it. A press would have been nice or even an anvil.

So before someone scares you away from doing it yourself give it a try. I wish I would have took pics along the way to share, but I really thought it would be impossible and I would end up having to take them to a shop. If you can swing a hammer you can do it yourself.

Mon Sep 26, 2016 11:14 am

good to know i was always scared of doing it myself hearing about broken vices and such getting the in and out.

Mon Sep 26, 2016 1:03 pm

If you are only going off-road, you will probably be ok, but you should never apply heat to a steering part. You remove the temper of the metal and then it breaks when you least expect it. Ball joint presses are wonderful things and can be had for free rental at local parts store usually.

If you can't find one, you can make one out of big sockets and a vise.

Mon Sep 26, 2016 3:21 pm

X2 on a ball joint press. Harbor Freight sells them for around $65 bucks. With a air impact gun and some sockets, they easily push the old ones out and press the new ones in without heat.

I even used it on the bigger Bay Window bus ball joints with no problem. I think it's a fun project. Just take your time and buy the best quality ball joints you can find.

Some of the cheaper ball joints can bind up causing all kinds of returning to center after a turn problems.

Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:01 pm

Go away city boys, a little minor heat never hurt anything. Not talking cherry red only raising the temp to levels that almost burn your fingers. Lots of threads showing harbor freight press breaks. No place to rent tools near me. I had it done quicker than it would take to go to the store and rent a tool anyways.

There's already 50 threads where city boys tell everyone you need special tools or to pay a shop to install them. Or imment doom will get you. Oh yea and my home Made lift spindles will surely fail when I let the jack down.

Mon Sep 26, 2016 11:17 pm

Did you line up the marks so they wont bind up?

Casey

Tue Sep 27, 2016 4:18 am

earthquake wrote: Did you line up the marks so they wont bind up?

Casey

Yes sir. It's pretty easy to see how they go with the boots off.

Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:05 am

A BFH and a pickle fork wrench works for me! :lol:

Tue Sep 27, 2016 10:00 am

Ya know this kinda of talk is not helping anyone and it has nothing to do with do it yourself mechanics or city boys what ever, You just got lucky and you should be giving this as an example of how it Can work Some times but no way can you use your one time experiance to instantly assume every ball joint job goes this way. Most of us who have done this professionally their whole lives and countless times know better. You want to teach people to bang away on their joints and burn them out,,Ok but your gonna have a lot of people frustrated when occasionally that doesnt work unless you want them to cut it out with a cutting torch which of course will be way beyond just a "warm up". When me and others tell people to go down and buy a 20 ton HF press it's because that is in the long run the best method to do the job and if you have a good home garage you should have one anyway since it can be used for countless applications. One last tirade....VW made and installed oversize ball joints on the assembly line just because of variants in the arms so do you even know how to tell what you have? I am happy you were able to accomplish this and I encourge people to do it on their own but just as I acknowledge joints can be removed your way I in no way want people to think this works every single time, much easier and preferred to do it by the book it will save you hours of swearing if you get a PITA job, you just havent had one yet. What "do it yourself" kinda of guy or home mechanic would Not want a $140 20ton HF home press is what I can't figure out. You work on your own VW especially Offroad cars it is one of the least expensive better tool you can buy...no matter how broke you are.

Tue Sep 27, 2016 10:25 am

Just out of curiosity, how much does it cost to take your arms down to a VW shop and have the old ones pressed out and new ones pressed in ?

Tue Sep 27, 2016 12:25 pm

I charge 1hr time or $ 120.00 most of the time - if there is a problem then more.

Tue Sep 27, 2016 1:40 pm

Donald Mace wrote: I charge 1hr time or $ 120.00 most of the time - if there is a problem then more.

Cool. Thanks for the info Donald.

Tue Sep 27, 2016 3:26 pm

Donald Mace wrote: I charge 1hr time or $ 120.00 most of the time - if there is a problem then more.

I wanted to be lazy when I did my 70' buses ball joints. I wanted to yank the arms out of the beam and have a local aircooled VW shop press the old ones out and press the new ones in. He quoted me $300 dollars. After I stopped laughing at him, I hung up and used my $50 dollar Harbor Freight press. Yes, it took several hours of my time but I didn't walk funny afterward from getting screwed by the local shop either..

I also agree that showing people how to do hack repairs on the internet isn't the best thing to do. It's no wonder that many of us have to spend so much time and effort to correct all the previous owners shoddy work.

Tue Sep 27, 2016 3:37 pm

Oh, it can be done, and MOST of the time it never causes a problem. However, the one time it does result in a failure, there is usually a family in a sedan coming the other way and they wind up losing a family member, or maybe just one of them gets horribly disabled. But hey, look at the bright side. You saved ten bucks . Hooray for you!!!