Ball joints - Upper control arm stuck to knuckle ?

[lostranger2026]

My lower ball joint is shot on a '99 4WD ranger and there's a good chance it was original. My aim is to check all the control points and replace where necessary. My sway bar links left and right are both broken, not sure what happened there. I just learned what sway bar links do in the first place and they were kaput when I bought the car. Now I never worked on suspensions before, however I'm trying to learn. I got the car suspended on the frame with blocks. The brake caliper is off, the lower ball joint nut is loose and just on there with a few threads, the lower control arm is suspended/held in place with both a jack stand and a floor jack. The bolt on the upper control arm is out.
Well at this point in most video's the entire knuckle comes loose from the upper control arm and can be swung to the side.
Not here. Stuck as heck. No movement. Tried some WD40, tried a large pry bar to gently persuade the control arm to go up, tried tapping it with a hammer upwards, nothing. Maybe I need to be less gentle, but I figured i'd ask first if I'm making any basic mistakes here.

See pictures attached, this should just 'come off', correct?

 

[Uncle Gump]

Need more hammer...

Tried a pickle fork?

 

[lostranger2026]

Need more hammer...

Tried a pickle fork?

No, not part of the collection yet. I might have to get myself one.

 

[Uncle Gump]

The taper of the ball joint stud and hole in knuckle create a really tight swedge fit. Typically a good solid smack of a bamiffy shocks them apart. It's sometimes even necessary to smack the knuckle when using the pickle fork .

 

[lostranger2026]

The taper of the ball joint stud and hole in knuckle create a really tight swedge fit. Typically a good solid smack of a bamiffy shocks them apart. It's sometimes even necessary to smack the knuckle when using the pickle fork .

Well I've been hammering like crazy and using a really big bar to try and push it up from the frame. It's coming, but it's super slow. Maybe got a 1/4" up so far, but it's still not loose. As far as I can see I don't have any more tension on it, so it's strange that it's that tight. Makes me wonder if putting them on is gonna be any harder. Right now I got it soaking in penetrating oil and as you can see I don't have a lot of rust to deal with in the first place.

 

[pjtoledo]

top ball joint is not tapered, bolt goes thru a notch in the stud.
bigger hammer/pickle fork. or spread the gap by a tiny amount.
your style of upper control arm on passenger side is no longer available.
the correct replacement will be like the driver side, but the offset is reversed.

for the lower ball joint and the tie rod, loosen the nuts and turn them to where they are even with the end of the studs.
then swing up and hit the nut/stud.

helpful tip, small/medium hammers swung fast are better than big hammers swung slow.

 

[lostranger2026]

top ball joint is not tapered, bolt goes thru a notch in the stud.
bigger hammer/pickle fork. or spread the gap by a tiny amount.
your style of upper control arm on passenger side is no longer available.
the correct replacement will be like the driver side, but the offset is reversed.

for the lower ball joint and the tie rod, loosen the nuts and turn them to where they are even with the end of the studs.
then swing up and hit the nut/stud.

helpful tip, small/medium hammers swung fast are better than big hammers swung slow.

Thanks, I finally got the passenger side off. My god that took a lot of tapping. I saw what you meant with the driver side is different. That one is up for tomorrow. Finally having it loose meant I was able to exercise the upper control arm. That took a lot of force just to move up or down, the upper ball joint feels very loose and has a lot of play, so I'll probably just replace upper control arm, lower ball joint and heck.. I guess I should just do the tie rods as well while I'm at it.

Am I missing anything?

 

[pjtoledo]

possibly, but I can't see it all from here.
a set of camber/caster alignment bolts should be on your list if they are not already there.
shock absorbers?

you are about to be bitten by "the mores"
when looking for problems:

the more you look the more you find, the more you find the more you should look.

the bushings in control arms are supposed to be quite stiff because the rubber flexing is what allows movement.