Hello all, let me first state that I searched but was unable to find anything that will help me get this stupid lower ball joint out.

I have a 1999, 5.7, Quad cab, 4X4, 98,000 miles, with the dana 60 front axle, with the original ball joints...

I fought with getting the hub nut off all day yesterday; it was super-seized...got it off using a floor jack on the end of my 3/4" drive ratchet...no damage either.

I am using the dealer's maintenance manual which said to "tap" the four bolts to remove the hub bearing...yeah, right. I read on the forum to use the steering to push it off...yeah right. I tried all four bolts...broke two extensions and squashed out two S&K spline sockets and the damn thing didn't budge. I pressed out the top joint with a little help from a cheater bar on the mega ratchet and press kit. I then got a 9" grinder and cut off the bottom ball joint stud and was greeted to the control arm & hub falling on my leg...that felt real nice...but at least it was off and out of the way. I guess I'll have to press out the hub later on my press.

The problem is that the bottom ball joint WILL NOT BUDGE! I do have the extension kit that comes with the press kit and I've done several complete suspensions before. I have soaked it for two days with liquid wrench, heated several times with a torch, and have herked on the press till its bowing...I think I bent it as the screw is now at a slight angle...the damn thing is simply stuck.

I am open to any help I can get, I can take pictures but they will just show a cut off ball joint stuck in a hole.


Thanks in advance for any help.

 

the best way i can help u is get the pullers from harbor frights tool i did my whole front end with my dad and buddie but we have a lift and a shop so a much easyier to do it on ur back so look for the special tool and u wont have as much trouble with regular hand tools

 

Those lowers on the 60's are a b!tch....
Which ball joint press kit do you have?
There should be angled cups.
If you don't have the angled cups I got a tecnique that worked on mine 2 months ago...
I'll post pics in a bit....

 

Ok so if you don't have the angled cups and you are pressing them out with the screw from the top this is what it looks like....
As you can see it's not pressing in a true straight line.


So what I did was used the 2 adapters and put them together to form a pivoting ball joint of it's own.




Now I flipped the press around put the pressing adapters at the bottom and had a good straight press........ But it still wouldn't budge this is where the air hammer came in...
the open hole in the top of the press allowed access to the ball joint itself... once it got low enough i added a shaft collar to give more distance(because the press frame started to touch the yoke)


The sequence is as follows

tighten press
5 second blast with hammer
penetrant
REPEAT
after fighting for a day or so, I tried it this way and it popped out in about 5 minutes...
And my hub was siezed in too I beat the chit out of the bolts to get it free, that took 2 days also.
I was gonna write a DIY on hard to remove D60's but haven't had any time..
I consider this the first installment....

Good luck........And welcome to the forum
Vee

 

Here's a better shot of the adapters bringing it in line under the receiver cup

 

It wouldn't work in the above link............




I should also add there is a jackstand supporting the truck not the bottle jack with a 2x4 under it, although i did this to get the axle high enough to flip the press around........I need a new lift for xmas,,,, too late i guess

 

Great idea...never thought of that. Regrettably, I have the same puller set with then another case of adapters...well I did. I managed to bend that hunk of c-clamp about 1 inch. The screw is now pointing outward and at an angle. When I say I was herking on it, I wasn't kidding. I have an old school 3/4" Craftsman socket set (waaaaay back before they too sold out to being Chinese made garbage...much like the press that bent) that has a 2 foot ratchet that I then had a 3 foot stainless pipe on. I was laying on my back with my feet on the brush guard...I imagine I looked quite entertaining but I could really get my pull on like that...not that it did any good except for bending my press clamp.

I soaked it down for the night with liquid Wrench and will give it a go again tomorrow. I heard that AutoZone lends out the same kit for free so I'll go bend theirs up next.

Oh yeah...2 inches of snow tonight! Just makes the job that much more fun. Two days of this crap and I still haven't even finished one side. This sucks but I bet the other side goes quicker. Yeah and flying monkeys are going to come flying out of my ****.

 

I bought the Autozone kit cause I scratched it.....I'm serious they said they wouldn't take it back cause it wasn't in NEW condition.....WTF
FWIW it was the 4X4 kit... (the press kit and 4X4 kit in one box) but still not right for the Dana 60......
I had to adapt with what I had, Oh well
But I didn't bend it even though it's made in China..

 

I did mine dana 44 the uppers came out resonablly easy but the lowers I couldnt get. I had to borrow my buddies HD Snap-on impact it worked, scarred the hell out of me when it broke loose sounded like a shot gun. I had a couple people come over to see what I blew up.

 

for mine i used a torch a ball ping hammer and a small slege hammer, heat it up then set the ball end of the ball ping hammer on the ball joint then beat the **** out of it with the small slege yeah i know they say don;t hit to hammers together but hey it worked