[wickedwitchinak]

Hello all,
THe last time I posted was with regard to electrical woes....and I thought THAT was a pain in the ***....but now that I am trying to do the Upper Left ball joint (with the gear box, idler arm and wheel bearings soon to follow), I have decided that I would prefer electrical anyday....
Piece of crap....:smash:
Anyway, I have been beating on, cussing at, and threatening the damned truck (67 C10, btw) for the last three hours and the hateful ball joint will NOT come out of there....I have a 10 pound splitting maul that is starting to look promising but I am trying to refrain from using the "get a bigger hammer" mentality. To be honest, the "back the whole damned truck into the river"mentality is gaining momentum also.
SO I am starting to think that I am doing something wrong as I am using a Haynes (useless, i tell you) and have only done this one other time years and years ago in shop class....and i was hoping that there is someone out there who could help with one or more of the following:
1) Some McGuyver-like tips from those of you who are equally as broke as myself, and/or
2) Some Bill Gates type funding from those of you who are feeling philanthropic or would prefer to see me take it to a real mechanic so I don't get myself killed ,:mwink: and/or
3) Some 'knight in shining armor" type chivalry for those of you who reside in the Fairbanks Alaska area and want to either save me from having to ride my bike all winter or the truck from certain doom. :mwink:
IF the ball joint is being this problematic, I shudder at the thought of the gear box.
Ok, so any help would be awesome...and feel free to advise on the feasibility of the other items on my agenda....Thanks!!!

 

[adtkart]

To start, you said that you are using a Haynes Manual. I can tell you that a Haynes manual is not hard, or heavy enough to knock loose a stuck ball joint, use a big hammer.

I am not familiar with that particular vehicle, so bear with me.

Usually the easiest way to knock loose the joint from the steering knuckle is with a "pickle fork" made for that.

If you are trying to get out the lower joint out and it is spring loaded( the spring is on that control arm), loosen the nut on the joint to the point that there is a space between the knuckle and nut. Take a large hammer and strike the knuckle in the area that the joint goes thru. Do not try by striking the control arm. The pressure from the spring will help to loosten the joint when striking. Make sure that the nut is on far enough to keep thejoint from coming all of the way out. This method also works well when working on the upper ball joint when the spring is on the lower joint.

Since the joint is tapered, it does not help much to strike the joint itself.

 

[wickedwitchinak]

Actually I have tried the pickle fork...and unless I am just hitting like a girl (which I suppose is possible, since I AMMM one ) it doesn't seem to be helping....I have tried hitting the control arm (don't ask me why) , the steering knuckle where the tapered end of the ball joint goes through it (cuz THAT actually seemed the sensible thing to do) , and the ball joint itself in an attempt to intimidate it with my fearsome presence....
And someone mentioned rivets in a PM, but if they were ever there, they were replaced by bolts seemingly a LONNNG time ago and I had no trouble at all getting them out. It kind of lulled me into a false sense of confidence, so that I could be completely truckless for FAR longer than if those five stupid bolts would have never come out to begin with. (Aside: I think I understand, now, why old cars/trucks are female...they are stubborn, require tons of money to keep them happy and absolutely refuse to cooperate...plus, they're curvy )

Soooo, still no luck...I am at a loss...and as much as I hate to admit it, maybe it is time to call in some big burly man...*sigh*

 

[advanced design]

Adtkart is providing sound advice on breaking the ball joint loose. Always remember this can be a hazardous operation. I've done many over the years and always approach the ball joint / compressed spring operation with respect. Use a proper spring compressor in the spring to keep it from flying out once you get the ball joint broken free and the castleted nut removed. That compressed spring contains a tremendous amount of energy and could really hurt a person. If you have any doubts this is an operation for a professional.

Striking the spindle at the point the ball joint goes through serves to disrupt the taper. Support the opposite side of the spindle from where you are striking with a very heavy hammer will help form a "crush" on the taper and might do the job.

Did have one recently on a '56 Chevy that refused to break loose no matter what I did. Was able to disassemble the upper joint then had to drive the other ball joint from the taper. A neanderthal approach but I had no choice.

Don't want to sound like a mother hen but compressed springs can be dangerous so be careful.

 

[wickedwitchinak]

AND THE WINNER IS.......




Sure as hell not me....so I give up....I will gladly pay someone else to do this at this juncture....and since I am paying I may as well have them do the gear box, idler arm and wheel bearings while I am at it...is it worth the $600 labor quote? Who the hell knows, but I have just about had it.
Somebody tell me again why I don't just go buy a new car??

BTW, thank you all for your advice....

--Megan

 

[advanced design]

Megan,
Why shouldn't you buy a new car? Well just about anyone can get a new car, therefore they are common. Driving a well kept older vehicle is different and as such a bit special. Good luck with your truck!

 

[wickedwitchinak]

Ah, yes...I remember now...I DID have a new car and was thrilled when I totaled it hitting a moose at 65 mph.
It was a 2001 Sentra...and there were about a million of them in Fairbanks.

But not one other person can say they have a 38 year old primer gray, primer black, and maroon stepside chevy with chrome wheels (HA!! The previous owner had a hell of a sense of humor...much like my own, in fact) , a quarter inch thick sheet of plate steel over the rotting wood bed slats, and a midget GT steering wheel (there's that sense of humor again).
It's kinda like Frankenstein in a way...some newer parts, some older parts, some rotting parts (ewwww...) but much like Dr. Frankenstein, I can't help but love my frightening creation even though it sometimes acts like it wants to eat me

 

[poncho62]

Front end work is not for the weak, or a woman.......lol.

It's very heavy work. Either get a strong friend to do it, or hire a mechanic.

Might as well take it to a shop, as you will have to get the front end realigned anyways.

 

[wickedwitchinak]

If I was more of a feminist, I might take offense to that... but seeing as I am not, I will have to agree with you that 90% of women couldn't pull it off, nor could probably 10% of men. As for me, I was leaning toward the 10lb splitting maul anyway....and with as much wood as I chop I highly doubt it would have stayed stuck in there for much longer than one swing. The only question was whether I wanted to break everything else in the process. Soooo, while I am fairly brutish as women go what with my Karate, weightlifting, chopping wood,and hauling water in 5 gallons jugs (I live in a cabin with no running H2O) I also have the brains to know when to quit while I am ahead..,..well, MOST of the time.

BTW, Poncho, I think you helped me out with my dash light dilemma...which I did manage to fix, surprisingly enough...

 

[poncho62]

You are welcome...............

BTW, do you also walk to school 6 miles in 3 ft of snow, with no shoes, uphill both ways............................lol

I guess, living in Alaska, you have to be pretty tough?

 

[wickedwitchinak]

You are right, to have to walk through the snow 6 miles in the winter is absurd.....
especially when I have a perfectly good broom that I could ride.

 

[poncho62]

Should have called yourself....wickedwitchofthenorth.

 

[advanced design]

Don't know about that, Megan sounds like a nice person with a good sense of humor and personality. Also adventurous in trying to tackle the front end work. More people like that the world would be better off. And probably 99% of the public at large wouldn't be able nor have the knowledge to rebuild the front end so kudos to Megan for jumping in!

 

[wickedwitchinak]

"Nice person with a good sense of humor"....Boy do I have YOU fooled!!

But, really, thank you for the compliment.

And if you think my attempt at front end work is adventurous, you should've seen me breaking the column shifter thingie at 45 below , having it stuck in 'Drive' and then spending the following 2 days putting in a floor shifter at a much warmer 30 below in the snow without a garage. It doesn't take but about 30 seconds of having bare skin against a transmission while trying to bolt the shifter to the floor before you really start hating life. It was kinda like 5 minutes of work, and 15 minutes in the house thawing myself out ...But, I have to admit, every time I shift that truck I think " Megan, you are one sexy, talented b#@*h" Ok, I think that WAAY more often than that, but hey, who's counting?


BTW, I'm rebuilding a motor at the moment too, kinda learning as I go...so wish me luck.

 

[advanced design]

-30 and working outside! Wow, I get whiney when the temp gets down around 50+. A good tough person! Good luck with the engine rebuilding. Any questions and I'm sure the forum will help.

 

[wickedwitchinak]

Actually, you wouldn't happen to know of any good "engine rebuilding for idiots" books, would you? To date, it has kinda gone like this: I get so far as installing the pistons, then someone says "gee, you DID calculate the gravitational pull of the moon when you put those in, right?" To which I reply "uhhhh..yeah, of course I did, I mean do I LOOK like an idiot?" and then I promptly run home, break out a book on Astrophysics and redo everything I've done. But I must admit it is getting old, tearing it down and putting it back together and I am almost at the point of saying, "If a stray dog hair eats that rod bearing alive, then so be it" But I know I will regret not redoing it if and when it blows up. Plus I constantly have this nagging feeling that I misread the Plastigauge, or I over/undertorqued something or I put the pistons in upside down (ok, even I'M not that dumb). Kinda like the same feeling when you get to work and wonder if you left the stove on. You are pretty sure you are being stupid, but the one time you don't run home to double check, your house burns to the ground. Furthermore, I stumble across horror stories here about errors someone else made (like the machinist perhaps) and I start wondering if a warrantied crate motor isn't less of a hassle.

ANyway, if anyone knows of any good literature on the subject, I would appreciate it.
Have a great weekend, all!!!

 

[advanced design]

You might want to check this one out http://www.affordableclassicsinc.co...nce/how_to_rebuild_your_small_block_chevy.htm

I haven't used the book but this might be a lead for you - assuming you are rebuilding a small block Chevrolet.

 

[wickedwitchinak]

HA!!! SO i took my truck to a mechanic and even with all the right tools, the comfort of a warm shop and the necessary muscles, it still took him over an hour to break that ball joint loose. He even bent his pickle fork in the process....He said he has never seen anything so stubborn...except maybe the Idler arm. I said that my ex-boyfriend was probably that stubborn, but I never had the satisfaction of hitting him with a hammer for over an hour to find out. :evil:

But I digress....the point of this post was to vindicate myself a bit. So now that I feel better, I will bid you adieu.

P.S. It snowed today, so wish me luck that nothing else on my truck breaks this winter, k?