Ok well I sat down this morning to install my Rough Ridge Steering Kit. All was well untill I wen to pull the ball joint off the Pitman arm. There is not enough room to swing a hammer to smack it out so I bought a pickle fork and gave that a go but still this damn ball joint wont come out.

I am running out of patience for this Cherokee. Its the worst maintained 34K mile cherokee I have ever seen yet the body and interior are perfect.

Please help I think I will be looking for a pickle fork for my air hammer tomarrow.

Any Ideas...

 

Is that the steering kit for like 160.00 that has the Tie Rod & Drag Link with ends and all? I ordered the same thing for my 96 with a 4.5 RE Lift and I also ordered the Tie Rod Flip kit from Goferit Offroad so I can put the Drivers side Tie Rod on from the top down for better clearance for 20.00. If you are having problems with a 37k system,I am probably really in for it with 150k on mine,I have been hitting it with "Liquid Wrench" every day for a week while I am waiting for my parts to show up,Please post your final results or PM me with any other things you find out along the way as well as overall performance and satisfaction with the kit. Thanks,Vegas

 

Have you tried heat yet?? If not apply some heat to the "female" portion of the problem, and then smack the living crap out of it. I have also seen people hit the "female" part and free them as well. I guess it sends enough of a shock into it that it can sometimes free the taperd pin. Good luck to you man, don't give up...you'll get-r-done!!

 

No heat yet but right now it is soaking in PB blaster so fingers crossed. Bad part is that I also got stuck when trying to remve the ball joint for the Track bar too. So both are stuck.
Vagaslightsss what exactly is that flip flop kit supposed to do I may look in to one.

thanks for the ideas guys.

 

Heat, heat, and more heat...it'll come loose!! Do you have a simple propane torch?? If not they can be had pretty cheap at Wally-World. If that doesn't get it hot enough, try map gas, but be careful, that stuff will get it hot enough to melt!! A propane torch should do it though. HTH!!

 

Well when I get off to night I may have to stop by wall mart for a torch

 

Well, one way to look at it is, you'll have one the next ime this happens!! Good luck, keep us posted!!

 

it's not a ball joint.

it's a Tie Rod End (or TRE as an acronym)

ball joints are what hold the knuckles onto the axle and allow you to have a turning radius while keeping your wheels from falling off.


anyways, use a cro-bar and a hammer (YES you can swing a hammer in there...it is tight but that's the great thing about steering...it turns. i.e. you can find a good point to swing from fairly easy)

you won't get hard swings, but you will get it done. pry between the pitman arm and the tie rod end, while tapping on the joint with a hammer. this works best with two people.

keep the nut threaded on the TRE a little bit so it doesn't jump down and smack you.

and, take the drag-link TRE off first, then do the track-bar TRE the same way, prying between the track-bar and the TB mount.

 

You are 100% correct I figured a ball joint is a ball joint but you are right it is the TRE.

I will try that. Time to make the girfriend work any way.

Should I still try heat?

 

I used heat on mine. Heres a link to my writeup if it helps. http://quadratecforum.com/showthread.php?t=97131

Before you try heat though, just beat it with a hammer. Sometimes that works too. If not...heat it, then beat it

 

hit it around the outside not on the tre if ur trying to save it, it will cause the tre to seperate internally then u r screwed. if heat dosnt work pick up some ti flo or some pro long at the local hardware store. i used this stuff on some drums that seized on my grandpas 1953 suburban lugnuts, they went taken off since 1960 the pro long is thick but it gets in and acually releives stress between taperd parts. good luck

 

Oh yea i almost forgot, have you tried any PB Blaster?

 

I have it soaking in pb blaster as I type this And as far as saving the TRE I couldn't care less the TRE has been dead for months.

IU will get a torch and give her a go later thanks everyone...

 

On mine I just used a pickel fork and a BFH and it finally came off..I had plenty of room with the axle up on stands..

 

oh. I forgot to mention...hit on the pitman arm where the drag-link is bolted into, and do the same on the trackbar mount...hitting on the joint itself isn't going to do anything.

as for heat..

*shrug*

a propane torch isn't gonna do anything. oxy-aced would, but then you always run the risk of screwing up the cast. I don't use heat on tie rod ends, and have not once had luck with a pickle fork, so hammer and cro-bar is the way to go IMHO