Removing Pressed-In Ball Joint

[Dave9]

And from personal experience that will make air tool purists "rabble rabble rabble," a cordless electric impact affords better trigger control, esp when backing out the screw because you don't get that post-trigger "RRRRR!" free spin

I would just use a manual wrench, it's not like this takes hundreds of foot lbs torque input, as the screw on the clamp gives the mechanical advantage, though some penetrant soaking in for an hour ahead of time, couldn't hurt.

Manual wrench allows to watch more carefully that you keep the pieces aligned and that you aren't bending the clamp. This is in context of being the first time this person/vehicle are meeting up to do this job. Someone doing same job on same vehicles day after day, impact wrench then speeds them up.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I’m not familiar with your car but I assume your “wishbone” is a lower control arm. If so the ball joint is loaded into the arm with the threaded end down. Remove the circlip and use an air hammer to pound the flat side of the ball joint down down. It’s very important to support the arm with either a jack stand or something else that is sturdy. A airhammer and attachment can be had for just over $100 USD. Now some people might not agree but you can power a air hammer with a very small compressor. You only need a 5 second blip and can wait for the air compressor to recover.

Now, if it’s the upper control arm, I’d advise you to replace the whole arm. It’s tough to get a pressed in ball joint out of an upper arm.

I’ll see if I can dig up some photos.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Have a look at Post #12 on how to run an air hammer from a puny compressor.

Matching air powered tools to Compressors

I had a look at some random air tools today and they seemed to spec out 2.7 to 3.0 CFM @90 psi.There a few wheeled compressors on sale that were 8 gallons and supposedly capable of delivering 3.5 to 4.0 CFM at 90 psi. Is this a case where the compressor’s rating is wishful thinking or do you...

bobistheoilguy.com

 

[paulo57509]

Many moons ago, you could tell when someone hammered on a ball joint. The stamped A-arm would often fracture leaving the vehicle looking like it was from East San Jose or Nipomo.