NHRATA01

iTrader: (10)

Ah ok, sorry for the confusion angst. I rented the "balljoint seperator", and the pickel fork is what I got. I'll keep the pittman arm seperator in mind for the next time I do this.

angst911

the key word is "puller" it's like 15 bucks at autozone/discount/advanced. There are two different size ones though. One is for compact cars, the other is just standard sized. Be sure to check which one you grab.

minty

How do you seperate the LOWER a-arm from the ball joint. I got the cotter pin out and the bolt out but the a-arm wont come off. Hammer it?

angst911

ok, the balljoint is pressed into the lower A-arm. The spindle should come up off of it

use one of these tools:
http://www.bledsoerentals.com/Images...anArmPullr.gif

you put the spiky looking piece on the top of the stud/bolt that is part of the balljoint, and then you put the two grabby looking pieces under the bottom of the spindle, just the head of the bolt on the puller, and it will pull the spindle free of the balljoint.

you can find this tool at autozone/discount/advanced

another note, you want to remove the cotter pin, loosen the castle nut (don't remove it yet), use the puller, and then remove the castle nut all the way.

NHRATA01

iTrader: (10)

That is excellent advice right there. I didn't think to leave the castle nut on, so when the joint popped loose, the spindle arm came flying off and whacked me. Luckily no damage to the car (brake line mainly), though minor damage to me.

On another note, I got the car back together and took her out for the first time today with the new shocks. I gotta say, those Hal's feel great, far far better than the stockers. I had them set on 6, the mid setting, and it was riding very tight, and handled light years better with virtually no body roll.