Ball joints

Alan Bain · 2010-11-28T23:13:15+00:00

Not exactly model engineering but someone might be able to help.I needed to separate a ball joint on my VW passat (as a precursor toreplacing the front wheel bearing). Standard ball joint separator toolsdon't fit (it's a large ball joint and VW make a tool 3287A).This looked like a good milling exercise so after an hour or so I had scaled up version of a standard scissors type ball joint separator.After trying to use it I successfully bent the 16mm x 19mm section whichI used as one leg of the scissors, but did not succeed in moving the joint.Never having separated a ball joint before maybe I did not design with a sufficient margin of strength?Does anyone have any tips on ball joint removal?Alan