Thrust Arms 101

[George M]

Since I find myself in the midst of yet another thrust arm replacement (not on my car) and have done a number of them by now, I thought I would share a couple of lessons learned that should help the first timer tackle this daunting job. As discussed a couple of weeks ago, if not replacing the shocks and/or springs, no need to remove the strut, brake and/or rotor. Have a look at the following pics...and note I didn't use a pickle fork for any of the ball joint separations...only a couple of good pullers as part of a Murray's loaner/purchase/return kit comprised of five pullers total.
George
90 735iL/149k


http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/ThrustArm1.jpg

Drop the upper and lower control arms attached to both steering knuckles DOWN WITH with the thrust arm tube X-mbr. Use your floor jack to bring the whole assembly down together slowly after disconnecting the lower control arms from the engine X-mbr.




http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/ThrustArm2.jpg

With the tube thrust arm X-mbr attached to suspension arms all brought down together, now simply take the impact to the pesky thrust arm bolts. It is very hard to get enough leverage to break loose the thrust arm bolts with the X-mbr up on the car and there is insufficient room to get an impact wrench on either the thrust arm bolt head or lock nut. On a lift you can use your body fpr leverage but under the car it is only arm strength and they can be stubborn. Much easier this way. Two bolts to put the tube X-mbr back up prior to reinstalling fresh arms.




http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/ThrustArm3.jpg

Disconnect the knuckle from the strut by supporting the rotor hat with a jack stand. Need to rotate the steering wheel to gain access to all three knuckle bolts. No need to remove the strut unless doing shock and/or spring replacement.

[MO525]

I pulled nothing but the Thrust Arms.
EVERYTHING came loose VERY easily, except for the driver's side joint.
MAJOR pain getting it loose.
The passenger side was out and in within an hour.
The driver side took at least 3 hours.

It drives SO MUCH better now.
Amazing what a difference it made and no more irritating "CLUNK" when you hit pot holes and such.

I bought the arms from BMA.
Best price around!!!! $90 each side.

[Bruno]

way too much work....
I don't want to have to drop all that. I just use pure force and a large braking bar to break all my bolts off.... yet the compressor is due for next week... Yeeeeha poower tools

[MO525]

way too much work....
I don't want to have to drop all that. I just use pure force and a large braking bar to break all my bolts off.... yet the compressor is due for next week... Yeeeeha poower tools

[George M]

hmmm...Mo525, if you change the lower control arms, you have to remove the knuckle from the strut for access to the ball joint lock nut...you only did half the job. And Bruno, I will be looking for you in the World's Strongest man competition....lol...maybe you will get it after you get your air installed. Since I have probably rebuilt more suspensions than you two guys combined, for the rest of you, trust me when I tell you this is by far the easiest way if you have air tools....I have done it many different ways to determine the easiest method. The front lower control arm bolts can also be zipped with an impact. The tube x-mbr has to be loosened for access to the rear locknuts which some use a ground down 22mm box end wrench on which isn't necessary. Loosening the X-mbr, or already having it loose for reassembly you can easily get a regular 22mm box end wrench on the rear locknut versus sliding an open end 22 into the crevice which isn't as secure when retighting the thrust arm bolts with a torque wrench. Mo525, you did use a torque wrench when you retightened your thrust arm bolts didn't you?...and retorqued the bolts with the suspension in loaded position? :-) Removing the two carriage bolts that retain the light X-mbr to the car's sub frame is by far the easiest method to change the thrust arms. You can lead a horse to water....
George

[Paul in NZ]

george you got any pics with the pullers in place?

[Mike]

George, you're da man! :) Your walkthrough boosted my confidence in doing the thrustarms on my own. Just not sure about the puller placement, as I only used a puller once in my life before; like Paul said - any pics of puller in action?

[George M]

when I get a little time, I will take some pics of the pullers I used and provide a couple more tips. Many different types of pullers will work, but will show the ones at least I had success with. If you check the archives, there was a good pic not long ago of a 3 claw puller that appeared to work well for one board member. My preference is always a fixed jaw puller versus a variable, adjustable claw puller because pulling force is never purely parallel to the direction of separation...a component of force is radial to
the direction of pull by the design of an adjustable jaw puller design...why they tend to slip if torqued up real high and work best for small ball joint applications.
George

[MO525]

hmmm...Mo525, if you change the lower control arms, you have to remove the knuckle from the strut for access to the ball joint lock nut...you only did half the job. And Bruno, I will be looking for you in the World's Strongest man competition....lol...maybe you will get it after you get your air installed. Since I have probably rebuilt more suspensions than you two guys combined, for the rest of you, trust me when I tell you this is by far the easiest way if you have air tools....I have done it many different ways to determine the easiest method. The front lower control arm bolts can also be zipped with an impact. The tube x-mbr has to be loosened for access to the rear locknuts which some use a ground down 22mm box end wrench on which isn't necessary. Loosening the X-mbr, or already having it loose for reassembly you can easily get a regular 22mm box end wrench on the rear locknut versus sliding an open end 22 into the crevice which isn't as secure when retighting the thrust arm bolts with a torque wrench. Mo525, you did use a torque wrench when you retightened your thrust arm bolts didn't you?...and retorqued the bolts with the suspension in loaded position? :-) Removing the two carriage bolts that retain the light X-mbr to the car's sub frame is by far the easiest method to change the thrust arms. You can lead a horse to water....
George

1. I only changed the Thrust Arms, NOT the lower control arms.
2. I don't know what Thrust Arms you're speaking of but I had NO problem accessing the 22mm nuts with a standard Craftsman combination wrench. By the way, the box end fit fine, no kidding.
3. Yes, I loaded the suspension (to the best of my ability) using my wife, my brother and my daughter for weight.
4. Yes, I torqued the bushing bolt to 94 with my trusty Craftsman torque wrench.
5. The job was surprisingly simple. Had it not been for the stubborn driver's side "joint", it would have been done in two hours.

You have your favorite method and the rest of us have Bruno's simple but effective method.

[George M]

one with little experience and not a whole lot of creativity. :p
Anybody who takes 2 hours to separate a single thrust arm ball joint, doesn't know what the hell he is doing....your self admission.
George

[Rory]

one with little experience and not a whole lot of creativity. :p
Anybody who takes 2 hours to separate a single thrust arm ball joint, doesn't know what the hell he is doing....your self admission.
George
George,

Take an air chissel/poker thing and pop it in the hole on top of the bolt side. You will see the hole when looking at it. Pull the trigger and within 30 seconds the damn thing pops out every time. Of course if you want to take everything apart then by all means. Little trick I learned from a tech when working on a buddies 5. YMMV.

Best,
Rory

[George M]

You, Bruno and Mo525 have completely missed the point of my thread. This method is directed to those that can't remove the thrust arms with brute force or don't feel like using brute force like me who have found and easier way. I have done a number of cars. If you can't dislodge the thrust arm bolts with hand force, you have to use power or air. To get an impact on the upper tube X-mbr you have to drop it down via two bolts...we are talking two bolts here. I had no problem separating my ball joints with a puller...can do it with an air chisel or air pickle fork...another way to separate the thrust arm ball joint from the knuckle.
George

[MO525]

one with little experience and not a whole lot of creativity. :p
Anybody who takes 2 hours to separate a single thrust arm ball joint, doesn't know what the hell he is doing....your self admission.
George

I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you, George.
You're obviously the BMW God here and I'm the dumb ass.
Oh pay homage to the great George. Nah.

[George M]

your argument has no foundation so don't blame you if you want no further discussion. Using air...if you have air...to dislodge the thrust arm bolts by removing two X-mbr bolts is much easier if you don't feel like trying to dislodge stuck bolts which has plagued many of us on the forum. I have known many that couldn't break the thrust arms free with a breaker under a car on jack stands. The technique I posted is an alternative strategy to help those that can't break the bolts free.
As to your derisive comments...will let you have the last word on that.
George

[Bruno]

No offense George, but I just don't find it difficult breaking the Thrust arms or control arms bolts with a good long breaking bar and the right socket...
And again I am doing everything with sockets and a break bar....

I did around 6 pairs of thrust arms and never had any problems.. But It is always interesting to know another way to do things when the work becomes difficult...
Like cutting the collar nut on the strut assembly... This sure saved my day...

[Bruno]

Please, difference of opinions doesn't justify this kind of words....

[George M]

its settled then Bruno...you believe the best way to break the thrust arm bolts is by hand and I believe the best way is with an impact wrench...lol. And for all you guys that I know out there who have struggled getting the bolts loose with a foot and a half of ground clearance trying to wield a breaker bar....which is always much harder than retorquing the bolts to 95 ft-lbs with a torque wrench...better hit the gym.
LOL,
George

[Mike]

Gentlemen, lets not split hairs, as the saying goes, "there is more than one way to skin a cat" - I'm sure both ways of dislodging the thrustarms are equally good - it's just a matter of preference, so lets all get along :)

[MO525]

Please, difference of opinions doesn't justify this kind of words....

He got Foul with me so I just "returned the favor".
I do apologize.
I've called a Truce with George in another thread and I'm sticking to it.

[632 Regal]

I wish I would have read that before doing mine. When I did them as a last resort I had to drop the X bar for clearance to that stupid PITA bolt. If I would have dropped that first it would have saved me about 2 hours of confusing knuckle breaking thrash session, and I do have air. At that time people had suggested that there WAS enough room to get the nut off...they were wrong!

[Bill R.]

bolts loose with the 22mm wrench modified to bmw's specs, Usually thats the least of my worries... As you know due to my hearing loss I try to avoid the use of impacts as much as possible to avoid any more damage to my hearing..so I almost never use them and still don't have any problems with these.. In all honesty I've probably only done 20 or so bmw front ends and haven't yet run into one that I thought the bolts were unreasonably tight..
I do use a cheater bar on it and it comes right off. Same thing with the ball joint stud on the thrust arms.. Some of those come out real easy, piece of cake and then about every fourth one you'll get one that breaks pullers and turns out to be a pain.. In those cases I pull the steering knuckle out with the thrust arm and control arms attached like I told Jeff and then when its out you can get to the ball joint stud easier... I do these with a floor jack and not on a lift but looking at your floor jack in the pics i would venture to guess that mine goes up quite a bit higher so I have more room to work under it.... For most of you I guess it comes down to whatever works the best for you though..






No offense George, but I just don't find it difficult breaking the Thrust arms or control arms bolts with a good long breaking bar and the right socket...
And again I am doing everything with sockets and a break bar....

I did around 6 pairs of thrust arms and never had any problems.. But It is always interesting to know another way to do things when the work becomes difficult...
Like cutting the collar nut on the strut assembly... This sure saved my day...

[winfred]

i use a home depot brand 7/8 box end wrench on the bitch nut on e34s, i loosen the xmember on e32s becase it's too tight to get in there, i like the husky brand wrench for it's slim head but i've gotten a craftsman 22mm in there too. as for the ball joint, i drive it out with my bad ass snap on air hammer, even when i am just doing bushings, i back the nut off till it's flush with the end of the threaded part of the stud and buzz it out, about 8 out of 10 times it works, the rest of the time a BFH and a prybar gets the job done. my record time for removing both arms and pressing in new bushings and reinstalling on a e34 is about 35 minutes in and out, i've done a ton of these and have gotten well practiced, a lift does wonders and the only thing better then having one lift is having two ;)

[George M]

those that have air and believe it is a godsend, which it is, and those that either don't have it like Bruno (soon to change) or Bill who don't like it or choose not to use it because of previous ear damage. Not using air because of ear damage is IMHO a poor excuse. For those out there with air or consider getting it, by all means get it with one major caveat. Along with your purchase, purchase aircraft quality hearing protection. Not the little celluose plugs you may stick in your ears at a rock concert but bonefide head phones that squelch all harmful decibel levels (that would look silly at a rock concert)...they are not expensive. Next to eye protection, this is the no.1 tool I use from my tool box. I NEVER operate an air tool, dremmel and virtually ALL power tools WITHOUT ear AND eye protection period. Removing a front suspension on a BMW...with versus without air is the difference between grunting throughout the entire job and playing music....there is no comparison as to which method is best. Expanding on what Winfred correctly stated, one cannot compare using a breaker bar under a car on jack stands with a 1 1/2 feet of ground clearance versus a car up on a lift where you have much more room to swing a breaker bar and "can use your body weight" to dislodge thrust arm bolts frozen on with over 150 ft-lbs of break away torque. I have always been able to get those bolts off by hand and I am probably a little but not a lot stronger than the average guy. I have talked to at least ten people that have contacted me about this job that couldn't break the thrust arm bolts loose...so word up to you home mechanics out there that are considering this job. Simply put, I have have done it both ways many times and chose not to use my strength to take apart my suspension...completely unnecessary.

In summmary, for those considering doing there front suspension with air versus not...here is a short song I have composed for you:
- Remove 75 ft-lb roadwheels: By Hand: Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt
With Air: Zip

- Remove 58 ft-lb lower control arm bolts: By Hand: Grunt Grunt
With Air: Zip

- Remove 81 ft-lb steering knuckle bolts: By Hand: Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt,
Grunt, Grunt
With Air: Zip

- Remove 68 ft-lb upper tube thrust arm X-mbr:
With Air: Zip

- Remove 45 ft-lb upper and lower ball joints from steering knuckle:
By Hand: Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt
With Air: Zip

- Remove 95 ft-lb thrust arm bolts: By Hand: Grunt, Grunt
With Air: Zip

The comparison is obvious. I can't ever remember discussing such a cut and dried issue.
George

[Bill R.]

any more of my time doing so. Don't tell me whats a poor excuse until you've walked a mile in my shoes. And until you work on cars every day its real easy to make the statement to always use ear protection... try it as a real practice sometime. Hearing damage is cumulative,so each time you forget to put the headphones back on and have that one exposure , thats another risk... Good bye George.






those that have air and believe it is a godsend, which it is, and those that either don't have it like Bruno (soon to change) or Bill who don't like it or choose not to use it because of previous ear damage. Not using air because of ear damage is IMHO a poor excuse. For those out there with air or consider getting it, by all means get it with one major caveat. Along with your purchase, purchase aircraft quality hearing protection. Not the little celluose plugs you may stick in your ears at a rock concert but bonefide head phones that squelch all harmful decibel levels (that would look silly at a rock concert)...they are not expensive. Next to eye protection, this is the no.1 tool I use from my tool box. I NEVER operate an air tool, dremmel and virtually ALL power tools WITHOUT ear AND eye protection period. Removing a front suspension on a BMW...with versus without air is the difference between grunting throughout the entire job and playing music....there is no comparison as to which method is best. Expanding on what Winfred correctly stated, one cannot compare using a breaker bar under a car on jack stands with a 1 1/2 feet of ground clearance versus a car up on a lift where you have much more room to swing a breaker bar and "can use your body weight" to dislodge thrust arm bolts frozen on with over 150 ft-lbs of break away torque. I have always been able to get those bolts off by hand and I am probably a little but not a lot stronger than the average guy. I have talked to at least ten people that have contacted me about this job that couldn't break the thrust arm bolts loose...so word up to you home mechanics out there that are considering this job. Simply put, I have have done it both ways many times and chose not to use my strength to take apart my suspension...completely unnecessary.

In summmary, for those considering doing there front suspension with air versus not...here is a short song I have composed for you:
- Remove 75 ft-lb roadwheels: By Hand: Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt
With Air: Zip

- Remove 58 ft-lb lower control arm bolts: By Hand: Grunt Grunt
With Air: Zip

- Remove 81 ft-lb steering knuckle bolts: By Hand: Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt,
Grunt, Grunt
With Air: Zip

- Remove 68 ft-lb upper tube thrust arm X-mbr:
With Air: Zip

- Remove 45 ft-lb upper and lower ball joints from steering knuckle:
By Hand: Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt
With Air: Zip

- Remove 95 ft-lb thrust arm bolts: By Hand: Grunt, Grunt
With Air: Zip

The comparison is obvious. I can't ever remember discussing such a cut and dried issue.
George

[Dave M]

http://volcano.photobucket.com/albums/v11/dave_macisaac/Bimmer/Steering-Suspension/puller.jpg

This small puller has four arms at various angles. The key, as I've learned, is the 'claw' that holds the steering arm. If the claw is broad and angled relatively flat to the steering arm it may slip off repeatedly. Try one with narrow, sharp claw that will dig in to the steering arm.

I tried to find out where mine came from to no avail.

Hope this helps.

Dave M


when I get a little time, I will take some pics of the pullers I used and provide a couple more tips. Many different types of pullers will work, but will show the ones at least I had success with. If you check the archives, there was a good pic not long ago of a 3 claw puller that appeared to work well for one board member. My preference is always a fixed jaw puller versus a variable, adjustable claw puller because pulling force is never purely parallel to the direction of separation...a component of force is radial to
the direction of pull by the design of an adjustable jaw puller design...why they tend to slip if torqued up real high and work best for small ball joint applications.
George

[George M]

debating this moot non-issue. There is no debate...air, if available, is by far the easiest method and commonly used practice for taking any suspension apart....both for professionals and in particular the easiest method for the occasional home mechanic which is mostly what we have on this board. I am sorry you have disdain for air tools as you blame them implicitly for your hearing loss...and I know hearing loss is cumulative. And a bit more on hearing...also depends on genetic pre-disposition. You can take two people and subject them to the same high ambient noise level over time and they can each have a much different level of hearing proficiency in their 50's-70's.
Removing high ambient noise level from the equation and to site an example, my beloved mother who is in her 70's can't hear sh!t and she has never been in a shop in her life. Many of her friends hear fine at the same age unassisted. If ambient noise levels are high in shops, and this applies to all you 60's motor heads out there that haven't already trashed your ears by too much ACDC...which I have lived in both professionally and privately like yourself all my life...and I am as old as you if not older, wear eye plugs over and above the need for comprehensive ear protection in the form headphones. Suspension work was my mainstay for 10 years...design, prototype build test, redesign, prototype build test etc....all day long, 5-7 days a week. I have built personally and professionally hundreds of suspension set ups on various cars and "all" were always torn down with air and "most" were reassembled with air for expediency as a race against time in lieu of retorquing everthing with a torque wrench. I have been in shops my whole life like you have. And Bill, don't judge me either...you haven't walked a mile in my shoes to know what I have experienced and the deficits that each one of us face and overcome each day.
George

[Hector]

to see on this board is the two of you going at each others throats.

Stop this.

[George M]

...you were right about the first part at least Hector. Now go run along and make that slide hammer you don't need for removing your M-30 rocker shafts.
George

[Hector]

to get the rocker shafts off, I'm all ears <'_'>.


...you were right about the first part at least Hector. Now go run along and make that slide hammer you don't need for removing your M-30 rocker shafts.
George

[632 Regal]

ohhh boy

[George M]

too funny...good one Hector. Wait a minute...one of my earplugs is stuck. OK..thats better.
Before you go through the trouble of building a tool you will seldom if ever use again or spending a lot of money for one....you have a number of options. Simply thread a long grade no. 8 bolt in the end of each of four rocker shafts and with a large crescent wrench...your bigger crescent turned down onto the shank of the bolt.... use the mass of the head to make your own primitive slide hammer...the home mechanic doesn't need the elaborate tool. Can also use a blunt punch without incident...to push the shafts out if gravity won't get them out by tipping the head. Degree of difficulty for extracting the rocker shafts pertains to the particular amount of warpage for each M-30 head. Some shafts needed to be pounded out, but most like mine just fall out. Try it first...your head may be dead straight like mine was....before going through the trouble of making your own slide hammer or purchasing one. One further bit of advice...most machine shops that rebuild heads...what I suggest in your case and what I did with mine...will pull your head apart, wash and mic everything ...3 angle grind...install fresh valve seals that you provide from your head gasket kit, skim the head to make it flat and reinstall everything. Just let them do it unless there is a good reason why you want to take the cylinder head apart yourself.
HTH,
George

[Hector]

first let me get something straight. My previous post regarding the poor use of the word "ears" was not intended to make fun or insinuate a derogatory comment. Had I realized this beforehand, I would've said something else.

The cylinder head was supposedly machined about 96K mi ago. But measuring the head height among other things, I'm under the impression that (1) the head never got machined, (2) the head doesn't seem warped when checking with a straight edge and feeler gauge and (3) the head height measures within spec. I know (unless I got srewed here as well) that the valves were reconditioned and new valve guides were installed. All I want to do is check the valvetrain components to see if their tolerance is within spec and I want to install new valve seals. The thought of taking the head to a machine shop and disassemble as you suggest is one that continues to lurk in my head.
Hector



too funny...good one Hector. Wait a minute...one of my earplugs is stuck. OK..thats better.
Before you go through the trouble of building a tool you will seldom if ever use again or spending a lot of money for one....you have a number of options. Simply thread a long grade no. 8 bolt in the end of each of four rocker shafts and with a large crescent wrench...your bigger crescent turned down onto the shank of the bolt.... use the mass of the head to make your own primitive slide hammer...the home mechanic doesn't need the elaborate tool. Can also use a blunt punch without incident...to push the shafts out if gravity won't get them out by tipping the head. Degree of difficulty for extracting the rocker shafts pertains to the particular amount of warpage for each M-30 head. Some shafts needed to be pounded out, but most like mine just fall out. Try it first...your head may be dead straight like mine was....before going through the trouble of making your own slide hammer or purchasing one. One further bit of advice...most machine shops that rebuild heads...what I suggest in your case and what I did with mine...will pull your head apart, wash and mic everything ...3 angle grind...install fresh valve seals that you provide from your head gasket kit, skim the head to make it flat and reinstall everything. Just let them do it unless there is a good reason why you want to take the cylinder head apart yourself.
HTH,
George

[George M]

it must be touchy Monday...I sure didn't take your ear comment as derogatory..on the contrary...even though you didn't mean to be funny :-)...an uncanny choice of words
however.

As to your head...based upon what you wrote, why not take a crack at taking it apart yourself....the M-30 head is really quite simple...what I would do if I were you. If you can't get it apart short of beating on it, simply take it to a shop and have them remove the rocker shafts for you....what they do for a living. Just remember you need to unload 3 valves/rocker arms for each rocker shaft...put them on the low side and off the cam to pull the shaft out.
Good Luck,
George

[Hector]

to do the job myself. I just hate to take it to a shop and then run into the possibility of some screw up. I'd be thinking something like, "did they do the job right or something?" Call me paranoid but I don't want to take any chances.

Thanks for your input, dude.
Hector


it must be touchy Monday...I sure didn't take your ear comment as derogatory..on the contrary...even though you didn't mean to be funny :-)...an uncanny choice of words
however.

As to your head...based upon what you wrote, why not take a crack at taking it apart yourself....the M-30 head is really quite simple...what I would do if I were you. If you can't get it apart short of beating on it, simply take it to a shop and have them remove the rocker shafts for you....what they do for a living. Just remember you need to unload 3 valves/rocker arms for each rocker shaft...put them on the low side and off the cam to pull the shaft out.
Good Luck,
George

[Triton540i]

I was thinking about it and after doing my first Thrust Arm Replacement a few weeks ago, that's the LONG way of doing it! I worked out a technique that would only take about 10 minutes per side to remove and replace the Thrust Arm, but if you can find a way that just works, that's better than not replacing them at all!
-Eric

[BennyM]

lighten up, man.

[NoSpeedLimits]

10 minutes! Awesome! I am so happy to see this topic being discussed, the timing is perfect for me because I need to replace mine real soon -- the shimmy is getting really annoying. Anyway, could you pleasssssse do me a favor and share your procedure with us. And if there any pics to go along with it that would be even better. Thanks.

[MicahO]

Nice to check in and see that little else has really changed -- at the very least, under this new format, everyone seems to be posting under their own names.

That's a plus.

[Triton540i]

I did post it a while ago, but I'll let you know how I did it on one of my friend's 525i as we did it as a Tech Session for my owner's group.

I would just do the entire Thrust Arm Replacement instead of the bushings, it's easier and who knows how the shimmy affects the ball joint.

Get the car up on jackstands, remove the front tires and you're ready to go. What we did was take a torch and burn off and remove the rubber boot over the shaft of the ball joint. You want to expose the shaft because when you're using the pickle fork, the rubber will make things more difficult to work around. The most important thing here is the kind of pickle fork you get. I worked with two different ones and you have two choices, the silver colored one that is one piece, or the impact one you can get from Pep Boys for free (with a deposit) that had three different heads. The one piece one that's silver is TOO Aggressive and did not work well at all. What you want is the middle sized head with a slower ramp so every strike from your 4 lb mallet works to seperate the ball joint. Another very important point is that you want to get the slack or extra space filled by placing the 22mm wrench under the pickle fork, this will make everything tight and really work that ball joint loose. I would recommend spraying Liquid Wrench on the shaft of the ball joint after you remove the rubber off the shaft to help get things loose. You have to be aggressive with the 4 lb mallet to seperate the ball joint, but it will work. The driver's side is usually more difficult to seperate than the passenger side, I think this probably happens because we put more load on the left side of our cars because of clover leafs, but that's my theory on the subject, I know that I go wild with those things all the time! I'll upload the picture of the wrench thing to give you a better idea of what I mean. Good luck!
-Eric

[NoSpeedLimits]

Thanks for the info. I will attempt to do a search for your post. If you happen to recall the thread title, that info. would be appreciated?