Advice on where to find tie rod/ball joint remover for thrust arms

[colo525i]

Read the old thrust arm threads and tried the tricks to get them to come out. Nothing, even lifting the arm on a jack, or putting the wheels back on and driving over the curb, has helped them budge. Has anyone found a workable press at their local auto parts store?

[Rus]

Have you tried separating the strut from its mount on the knuckle (3 or 4 large bolts on the bottom). This should give you enough room to use a large pickle fork. I couldn't get my passenger side to come apart until I did this. Even then it took a lot of hammering. HTH

[genphreak]

Have you tried separating the strut from its mount on the knuckle (3 or 4 large bolts on the bottom). This should give you enough room to use a large pickle fork. I couldn't get my passenger side to come apart until I did this. Even then it took a lot of hammering. HTHYou need lots of Penetron squirted in there.

Just use a butane torch to heat up the steering arm (plate below strut that everything connects to), being careful of rubber boots, of course. Then a short sharp tap will pop the tie rod if you have your pickle fork jammed in there. Then remove the whole arm from the vehicle (complete with control and thrust arm) and use Bill Rs method (searhc the forum or archives) of popping the ball joints out using sockets and a decent hammer. His is a damned sweet way to do it with minimum fuss... :) Nick

[yaofeng]

Read the old thrust arm threads and tried the tricks to get them to come out. Nothing, even lifting the arm on a jack, or putting the wheels back on and driving over the curb, has helped them budge. Has anyone found a workable press at their local auto parts store?

Remove the thrust arms, cross member. Place it on the floor. Use a couple pieces of wood and appropriate size deep socket as cushion. Get a four pund hammer and swing away.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/yaofengchen/BMW_95_525i/DSC_1540.jpg

[Ross]

Get a pickle fork in there, just jam it in behind the backing plate, and wail on it with a big hammer. Make sure the nut is off or loose enough to turn with your fingers or you will struggle to remove the nut once the stud is free of the knuckle.A rap on the knuckle where the stud comes through with the fork wedged in there may help too.
It'll come off.

[Tiger]

JC Whitney separator... use a socket wrench to separate it.

[kick7ca]

I was able to borrow (at no cost) a ball joint service kit from the local automotive department store. It worked like a charm.

[DanQ]

I was able to get the fork in a great position after taking the steering knuckle off of the strut tower. A few good whacks and it popped off.
Now I think I need a spring compressor to get it all back together!

So far I've spent

~$32 on 22MM Wrench and socket
~$6 on 19MM socket
$39 on fork kit
Also got a air tool set at sears since I figured I had a good excuse to get it :D
And will be making my 4th trip to sears to get a strut spring compressor set for another $39.

[ryan roopnarine]

go rent the spring compressor from autozone, advance auto, checkers ,et cetera. they would have rented you a pickle fork set as well. simply pay a deposit, and receive a full refund upon return of the tool.

[markus]

i jsut did this on my car. what i did was remove the thrust arm and control arm still attatched to the steering plate. dont forget to remove the 22mm nuts before hand. anyways the thrust arm would come out relativley easy with a few goot hits of a pickle fork and a hammer, but the control arm was giing me the worst trouble. So me and my buddyhad an idea. We cut the balljoint spindle off and placed the steering plate in a vice and got a long bolt and pushed the spindle out of the control arm, We really had no other option since nobody around here carried ball joint separators. We tried sears, autozone, advance auto and home depot and not anything else but a pickle fork.