Thrust arm questions

[Unregistered]

I CANNOT get these f'ing lower studs to break loose!!! the upper nuts are no prize either as they are really tight. Impact gun (electric) does not have enough balls to break them and I can't get the car up high enough to use my 24" breaker bar. pls HELP!!!! any advice is appreciated. The goddamn pickle fork hits the nut for the lower control arm before it pops the thrust arm out. VERY FRUSTRATED!!!!!!!!

[George M]

hmmm...never heard that before....not. :-) Find my post I started a couple of months ago...about Thrust arm 101 in the archives...will give some perspective.
If you can't get the upper nuts loose cause of a no balls impact...generally you can't get any impact on the upper thrust arm bolts...and you can't get a breaker in there...drop the thrust arm attachment tube X-mbr down. Similarly if you can't get a pickle fork all the way in to dislodge the thrust arm ball joint either find a small pickle fork with quicker angled fork or remove the three bolts that hold on each knuckle.
HTH,
George

[DanDombrowski]

I CANNOT get these f'ing lower studs to break loose!!! the upper nuts are no prize either as they are really tight. Impact gun (electric) does not have enough balls to break them and I can't get the car up high enough to use my 24" breaker bar. pls HELP!!!! any advice is appreciated. The goddamn pickle fork hits the nut for the lower control arm before it pops the thrust arm out. VERY FRUSTRATED!!!!!!!!

Cursing at it doesnt help. I tried that. Used every word I knew of and made up a few. I gave up on mine, dunno what to tell you.

[mancini_mark]

Yes...been there, done that...

I soaked it in WD40 and used an open-end wrench with a rubber mallet. As for the ball joint, I used a combination of pry bar and hammer. The ones that were really stuck I heated with a torch.

Hope this helps,
Mark

[Karl]

Another trick that has worked for me is to press a big hammer against one side of the steering knuckle (aftger loosening the nut), then hit the other side of the knuckle with your other hamer.... The theory is that you pinch the tapered hole a little and squeeze the tapered ball joint shank out.

[Unregistered]

thanks all for your help. I got 'em. Got a different pickle fork and got the car up a bit higher so I could use an 18" breaker. Those 4 bolts were some bitch. Going to kick back with a cold one now.