Monday, October 26, 2009 - 01:50 pm, by: David Henderson(Hendo)
I'm looking to buy a ball joint splitter/ separator tool which won't break on me.
I bought a $40 repco scissor type splitter, and found that it diddn't fit onto the hub to LCA ball joint as the yoke wasn't wide enough.
Not to worry, I hit it with the grinder to open it up, it fitted ok so I wound the bolt up and it snapped the arm right in the middle. (not the part I grinded, so that wasn't the reason it broke)
The tool is cast, which I expect all of them would be, but probably just bad quality.
What do other people use?
I wanted to keep the boots in good condition which is why I diddn't use a long lever type, and the arms are off the car at the moment so I can't swing off them.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - 12:42 am, by: Chris Ryan(Ryzan)
I had the same problem with mine. Tried the scissor ones and snapped them.
Than I got one like this (see pic) and worked a treat, even on my very tightly wedged ball joint. This is the type (or something like this)they recommend in the service manual too.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - 06:48 am, by: Matthew Sharpe(Madmatt)
Yeah, I just use a wedge fork style and mallet but as you say, that'll stuff the boots if you intend to re-use the joint, so I'd go with what Chris recommends.