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Re: [T3] Ball joint removal


On 24 Jul 2001, at 21:01, Henrik Larsson wrote:

> Jim Adney wrote:
> 
> > Which part are you trying to replace? Why are you taking this
> > apart? I agree that it would be foolish to destroy a perfectly good
> > ball joint. Good ones are hard to come by.
> 
> To make a long story short:
> 1. The car was too low when I bought it and I was going to raise the front
> suspension.
> 2. The head of one of the ball joint clamping bolts snapped off when I
> removed it.
> 3. I'm trying to remove the steering knuckle + ball joint to be able to use
> a drill press to drill out the remains of the bolt.
> 
> My hand held drill's speed is way too high to use with a 8.5 mm drill and I
> don't think I will be able to use the right force and drill straight if I'm
> working with the parts still on the car. My uncle have just bought a drill
> press and I was going to use that.

I know it seems like a pain, but I have done this with a variable 
speed hand drill with the ball joint in place. I know the drill press 
would drill the bolt out cleaner, but if you had just gone in there 
with the right hand drill you'd be done by now.

> If the hammer + chisel method doesn't work, how about using a angle grinder
> on the nut. If I'm careful I think I can weaken the nut without damaging the
> threads on the ball joint.

You might also be able to just split the nut with a cold chisel, but 
either way you still have to find a replacement nut. 

I'd leave it alone and do the work where it is. I'm afraid you'll end up 
having to fix other things if you keep this up.  8-(

Unfortunately, this is one of those cases that has no really good 
answer.

-
Jim Adney
jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, WI 53711-3054
USA

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