Hey, so I'm just starting rebuilding basically my entire front end (97 1500, 4x4 5.9), and today I'm going after the ball joints.
I'm having trouble getting the 1 3/4" castle bolt holding on the wheel bearing. I've got a bar wedged between the lug nut bolts to try and hold it in place, but I just can't get enough force to get it loose.
it would obviously be easier to just get it on the ground, but I can't really do that with where its parked, and I'm a little too far along to move it.
Any tips or trick to keep it stationary? Just more brute force?

 

Spray the nut and spindle assembly liberally with PB Blaster and let it soak in awhile. If you still have the rotor on the truck, you can use a screwdriver and stick it down one of the rotor cooling vanes to lock it up against the caliper bracket. Once that's done, find a long pipe to slip over a quality breaker bar (hopefully, one that's warrantied for life, as it just might snap) and turn it until it pops off. I had the same issue when rebuilding the front end on my truck some years ago. I used this method and it did the trick. The key is leverage with the long pipe.

 

Cool. Yeah , I think I need a longer breaker bar. It keeps feeling like it's almost going to budge but then my damn arms give out!
thanks

 

Are you talking about the nut on the end of the front drive axle? A previous owner had over tightened mine and I broke numerous tools trying to get it off. I finally went to a shop that deals with heavy equipment. They had to use a 1 inch impact wrench and still broke a socket getting it off.

 

Just slip a long piece of pipe over your existing breaker bar. That should provide all the leverage you need to break that pesky nut free. I think I used a 3/4" drive breaker bar and a long pipe over it (for a leverage extension) to ensure that the breaker bar wouldn't break under load.