clio 1 - lower ball join fitting

[lofty]

ive doen them on my old clio but had trouble slipping the male bit out after removing the two bolts - anyone found a good method of seperating them? they are only held in by friction?
last time i struggled like hell and had the strut/drive shaft sliding about all over the place and the CV boot was a bit vulnerable, rather not risk it again with the williams

 

[Red16]

buy a ball joint splitter from any motorist discount shop, set ya back about 5 quid

http://www.handsontools.com/image_manager/attributes/image/image_1/2402_2925.jpg

unless ya very careful and use grease on the balljoin to be split, u will damage the rubber boot on it, but if its to be replaced dont worry about that! But it ya just splitting the balljoint to get say a drive shaft out, remove the 2 bolts holding it to the wishbone instead

 

[Red16]

u need to take the 1 bolt out that holds the pin (male bit) of the balljoint into the hub, then it should seperate with the splitter (cos its now just held in by friction from rust/crap), will probs need a bit of a whack with a hammer to get the splitter in mind

 

[JAY172]

undo the the 16m bolts to separate it from the wishbone.Undo the 16m pinch bolt and remove it.You can open up the hub pinch joint by hammering a small chisel in the groove(only a bit though).this opens the pinch joint slightly and releases the balljoint.

 

[lofty]

great stuff gents!

i might buy the ball joint splitter just for the crack!

Track rod ends next week!

 

[lofty]

can anyone reccomend a good online tool retailer? middle of the road quality