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.

 

[lostranger2026]

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.

Well, I spend some more time looking at that suspension and yeah, the bushings are pretty dry and cracked. So I'll need to drop the torsion bar, which I'm not looking forward to, just to get new bushings in there. One picture is of the lower control arm, the other one is from the upper part. New control arm should sort that anyway. The shocks look like they're in good condition. I don't see any rust or oil leakage. The bushing connecting the shock t the control are is fairly torn. Not entirely sure how to go about that yet.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Hopefully the T bars aren't seized in the control arms. I know mine are... I beat the snot outta them to no avail. I bought new lower arms so I could install my heavy duty T bars.

It can be done without the torsion tool... but it sure helps to have it. Safer too...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Yeah, I know AutoZone loans out the torsion bar tool, definitely easier and safer with the tool.

My T-bars were seized, I soaked them in penetrating oil and gave them a few good whacks after I got the whole assembly out from under the truck and got it separated.

 

[lostranger2026]

As someone who's doing this piecemeal in his back carport, I like that idea. Remove tension with the tool, soak it and try to get it out. Then I can replace the bushings while it's still mostly held on by cv & tie rod / supports. Put the torsion bar back and then work my upwards from the ball joints.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I think you might be further ahead to just replace the lower arms complete.

Many times the lower arm bushings don't come out so easy.

New arms have new bushings and lower ball joints installed already.