Technical Tough Ball joint

[CamperVanBeethoven]

What ever works eh!

Physics CAN be fun

 

[Communicator]

Physics CAN be fun

The sweet feeling of success. Congratulations.

 

[CamperVanBeethoven]

I used to do similar on a few cars where space was tight. I had a few different lengths of Morris minor torsion bars that doubled up as socket breaker bars.

I did a few years on HGVs and tractors and some of those joints were a reasonable size and needed a big hammer but in reality they were easier as there was more space. I found the most useful and successful thing for anything a bit stubborn was a small bottle jack that we could use to put some pressure on the taper. Unscrew the nut past the nylon or locking medium and sometimes the jack would break the taper even without a hammer. Weight of a HGV tractor unit can be quite a persuader.
I’ve even used it with a lever when space was tight. Never failed especially when combined with a sharp tap.

My problem was that when you jack up on the balljoint end, the wishbone follows it, so there was no tension between the two.
I need to invest in a jumbo length bar for use as a lever as BugsyMike suggested.

 

[CamperVanBeethoven]

The sweet feeling of success. Congratulations.

 

[Cornish Ian]

My problem was that when you jack up on the balljoint end, the wishbone follows it, so there was no tension between the two.
I need to invest in a jumbo length bar for use as a lever as BugsyMike suggested.

After the event now but yes you often need to stop that movement with a block of wood, bar or something. Often you can find a suitable point to transfer the load directly to the body. Always secure the prop / spacer against it flying towards you if it slips though. The idea of the jack is to put some pressure on the joint to help it break with a tap. Probably a bit kinder to the wishbone than the method you used.
Apart from the scrap torsion bars I also had a few pieces of EN 16 ( left over from a job ) that made good punches and levers. EN16 is strong and tough if you could get a piece but even normal mild steel would probably work if it’s a reasonable size.

 

[CamperVanBeethoven]

After the event now but yes you often need to stop that movement with a block of wood, bar or something. Often you can find a suitable point to transfer the load directly to the body. Always secure the prop / spacer against it flying towards you if it slips though. The idea of the jack is to put some pressure on the joint to help it break with a tap. Probably a bit kinder to the wishbone than the method you used.
Apart from the scrap torsion bars I also had a few pieces of EN 16 ( left over from a job ) that made good punches and levers. EN16 is strong and tough if you could get a piece but even normal mild steel would probably work if it’s a reasonable size.

"Often you can find a suitable point to transfer the load directly to the body"
But not on the mk 3 Ducato - there's nothing.
No chance of damaging the wishbone with this method - it's a very hefty forging - and it saves hammering 7 bells out of it too ☺

 

[CamperVanBeethoven]

After the event now but yes you often need to stop that movement with a block of wood, bar or something. Often you can find a suitable point to transfer the load directly to the body. Always secure the prop / spacer against it flying towards you if it slips though. The idea of the jack is to put some pressure on the joint to help it break with a tap. Probably a bit kinder to the wishbone than the method you used.
Apart from the scrap torsion bars I also had a few pieces of EN 16 ( left over from a job ) that made good punches and levers. EN16 is strong and tough if you could get a piece but even normal mild steel would probably work if it’s a reasonable size.

After the event now but yes you often need to stop that movement with a block of wood, bar or something. Often you can find a suitable point to transfer the load directly to the body. Always secure the prop / spacer against it flying towards you if it slips though. The idea of the jack is to put some pressure on the joint to help it break with a tap. Probably a bit kinder to the wishbone than the method you used.
Apart from the scrap torsion bars I also had a few pieces of EN 16 ( left over from a job ) that made good punches and levers. EN16 is strong and tough if you could get a piece but even normal mild steel would probably work if it’s a reasonable size.

Here is the video I found showing this technique.

 

[bugsymike]

There are lots of different methods, though most depend on the design of the suspension, for example some the nut is above the lower wishbone as in the video , but some below hence some suggestions will not work, which is why it is best to understand the operation and how the load is supported on the vehicle you are working on.
As a slightly different example when working as a foreman at a garage a member of staff failed an Mot on a Morris 1000 on brakes and quite rightly so.
I chose to do the job on another ramp and whilst working on it I noticed extreme wear on the bottom trunnion/kingpin threaded assembly (quite a common fault) I told the staff member who had originally tested it and he said he would check it when retesting brakes, which he did saying he could find nothing wrong with it!
I went over and looked at it and bearing in mind this was several years ago and "PC" had not been invented, I took one look and said "you have jacked it up in the wrong place you stupid **** ". I then jacked it up correctly and told him to check again and it became obvious to him what I meant.
Later when the part was stripped down the wear was so bad it could easily have collapsed on the road and he would have passed an MOT on it!
Bare in mind this man was older than me and his family had owned garages and felt he should have been made foreman, but the boss thankfully realised differently.
The point being, on that model of vehicle it had torsion bar suspension which if jacked up on the chassis rails had the affect of taking all the slack out of a worn joint, where as it should have been jacked up under the outer end of the lower suspension arm so the torsion bar would not come into play.

 

[CamperVanBeethoven]

There are lots of different methods, though most depend on the design of the suspension, for example some the nut is above the lower wishbone as in the video , but some below hence some suggestions will not work, which is why it is best to understand the operation and how the load is supported on the vehicle you are working on.
As a slightly different example when working as a foreman at a garage a member of staff failed an Mot on a Morris 1000 on brakes and quite rightly so.
I chose to do the job on another ramp and whilst working on it I noticed extreme wear on the bottom trunnion/kingpin threaded assembly (quite a common fault) I told the staff member who had originally tested it and he said he would check it when retesting brakes, which he did saying he could find nothing wrong with it!
I went over and looked at it and bearing in mind this was several years ago and "PC" had not been invented, I took one look and said "you have jacked it up in the wrong place you stupid **** ". I then jacked it up correctly and told him to check again and it became obvious to him what I meant.
Later when the part was stripped down the wear was so bad it could easily have collapsed on the road and he would have passed an MOT on it!
Bare in mind this man was older than me and his family had owned garages and felt he should have been made foreman, but the boss thankfully realised differently.
The point being, on that model of vehicle it had torsion bar suspension which if jacked up on the chassis rails had the affect of taking all the slack out of a worn joint, where as it should have been jacked up under the outer end of the lower suspension arm so the torsion bar would not come into play.

Ah, yes - the three-legged Minor slumped at the roadside was part of the British landscape for a couple of decades. (Along with jumpers for goalposts and mewling schoolboys neutered by their Raleigh Chopper gear levers)