When I did the uppers on my 1988 Dakota, I got stuck on the first one I was trying - even with the official socket.

I finally gave up, took the control arms to a shop that had a 3/4" 1100 lb/ft "Earthquake" style impact wrench.

It took two techs since either one would bounce around with the impact ... with both, they were able to hold the impact wrench until it broke free.

(The second one wasn't that hard, but I also had them drive the new ball joints in.)

If it's more than that, maybe pull a set of control arms from the boneyard and remove the ball joints from them?

(Might also try buying a gallon jug of Kroil or P'Blaster, putting it into a large glass dish, and letting the unit soak in it for a day or two with the dish covered.)

RwP

 

RalphP, just out of curiousity, have you had or heard experience with the ball joints in 4WD Daks? I'm wondering if they are just as challenging.

 

Mine were a real pain too. I used a giant pipe wrench and 4-6' of pipe on it. At that, it was still tough, the entire way out. New ones went in pretty easy with minimal resistance. Just make sure the truck is VERY stable before you get that kind of leverage on it.

 

heat then some High Temp penatrant rust disolving penatrant while hot
chatter with the impact both ways as mentioned above
repeat

 

Same ball joints according to the cross ref charts for the upper, so yah, I'd bet just the same. Maybe more - I'd expect a 4x4 to have more pure crap loaded up on the control arms *grins*

RwP