2000 Ford 350 Ball Joint removal?

blinwmi@aol.com · May 2, 2010

I have a 2000 F350 2 whl dr with the twin I beam front axle that needs new upper and lower ball joints. I have bought the ball joints from NAPA and went to install them today but wasn't able to get the old ones out. I went back to NAPA to get a ball joint seperator that fit that size. The guy at the counter told me I couldn't use a ball joint sperator but had to use some special C clamp thing to press them out. I rented the C clamp tool and went home but there is no way that it will work to get the tapered end out. The way I am looking at it, it seems that I do need a ball joint seperator to get it apart and then use the C clamp thing to press the ball joints out of the housing once the housing is disconnected from the axle. Am I correct or am I missing something? Any words of wisdom or better ways to do this project would be appreciated.

Bob · May 2, 2010

It may not be "politically" (mechanically?) correct, but I've had great success using a smoke wrench for that job.

RodinNS · May 2, 2010

I'm not familiar with that setup anymore.... too long since I looked at a Twin I-Beam... but in general, if you're dealing with ball joints... a good hard smack with a heavy hammer/maul to the housing/knuckle directly adjacent to the ball joint will usually pop them loose.
If these are 'lifetime' parts from NAPA then you don't want to put the smoke wrench to them since they tend to want the cores back...

Rod

IN-FARMALL · May 2, 2010

The fire breathing hacksaw will help.

IN-FARMALL · May 2, 2010

The fire breathing hacksaw will help.

Brian Jasper co. Ia · May 2, 2010

Take the nuts off both joints and just like Rod says hit the side of the knuckle with a hand sledge. Anything smaller won't work. I suppose a large enough pickle fork would work, but I do the hammer method. I also use the BFH to beat the old joints out and the c clamp press to install the new ones.

El Hombre · May 3, 2010

My suspension instructor in trade school showed me the hammer trick 35 years ago. It helps to use a big hammer as an anvil on one side of the joint and then wail on it with a slightly smaller hammer on the other side. Something like a 4# and a 3# hammer.

You also need to provide some way to pre-tension to get the taper to pop out of the knuckle. I've used a pry bar, couple of bungee cords, have a helper pulling it apart while you're banging away.

I've never used a pickle fork or the scissors style puller; worked every time with just the hammers.

Jeff IA · May 3, 2010

When I did it I loosened the castle nuts then used a fork-type separator to separate the steering knuckle. It takes a bigger than average fork. I rented the c-clamp type removal tool, but it was missing a spacer and it was pretty beat up, making it a bit difficult to get the job done. I gave up on that and took the steering knuckle into the local machine shop and had them put in the new ones. Much better option. It was about $15 to have them do it, if I recall correctly. This was on a 2001 E350 van. Good luck.

2000 Ford 350 Ball Joint removal?

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