How to Remove the Lower Ball Joint on Trucks

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Nate McCullough on behalf of Expert Village. In the following clips, we're going to talk about the correct procedure for replacing your upper and lower ball joints on a two wheel drive full size vehicle. In this clip, we're going to talk about breaking the mechanical weld between your spindle and your ball joint stud. The ball joint stud is a convex shape, and your spindle has a concave shape to it. They fit together and make a mechanical weld. The tighter the nut pulls the ball joint stud into the spindle, the tighter the squeeze is between the two. Even with the nut taken off, you can't get the spindle loose to service the ball joint. What you're going to use is a tool called the pickle fork. This is a hammering device, where, as you drive it in between the fitting, it's going to apply more and more leverage in order to break that mechanical weld. It's going to slip in right through here. I'm just showing you this for the sake of video. I'm actually going to do it from the backside because my pickle fork doesn't fit. If you had a really small one, it may fit through this access hole. It's going to slip through there and you're going to use a hammer to drive it through and break that weld. Like I said, I'm going to do mine from the backside. I just wanted to show you that you're going to insert it between the spindle, below the dust booth. Right there is the proper location; however, my pickle fork doesn't fit. So, I'll do it from the back side. As you can see, it's going to take a pretty decent amount of hammering to get your pickle fork in. Don't worry, remain steadfast, and keep hammering it until the weld breaks. Once you have your mechanical weld broken, you can go ahead and step down on the spindle to get your ball joint free from the spindle fitting point. As you can see, watch here, that is what you're looking for."