I way going to replace the ball joint on my scram because the wheel felt like it had a lot of slop. Well, I removed the cotter pin and castle nut. I first became concerned when the castle nut was just over finger tight. Then I was about to use a pickel fork to pop the a-arm off when it fell right off the ball joint. I removed the dust cap and retaining screws. I examined the ball joint to find that it was still tight and moved. WTF!!!! So I figured that the castle nut wasdn't put on tight enough and allowed for the a-arm to move up and down which made it feel like a bad ball joint. Does this sound reasonable? So, I put everything back together and started to tighten the castle nut. Now the damn ball joint spins and I can't get the castle nut tight. I think that must have been what happened before and that is why it is not tight. How do I stop the balljoint from spinning so that I can torque it????? HELP

 

We had the same problem with one of the ball joints on my Dad's Sportsman. The only way to get it back on was to use an impact wrench. I'd like to add though, the ball joint ended up breaking off by the nut. I don't know if that ball joint was bad when we tightened it back up or not. We had talked to the mechanic at the local dealer, and he told us about the impact wrench. I just wonder if we should have replaced the joint at that time. The ball joint is tapered, and the nut draws it tight to hold it all together. You may want to have the joint checked. My Dad's ended up breaking off while we were deep in the mountains in Tennessee. There is no backup to hold that wheel. It is impossible to drive it like that. Luckily, we had another Sportsman at the trailer, which I went and got. Even luckier, two guys just happened to come by on motorcycles and helped us lift the front tires up onto the rack. We strapped it tight, and managed to get it home.

I wouldn't wish something like that on anyone. It could be dangerous to have happen while your running fast. I think, in retrospect, we should have had the joint checked.

Sorry for the long windedness, hope this helped.

Scott

 

I have another ball joint to replace it with . I just can't get the old one out. I tried heating it up and pulling with on it with vice grips. I don't want to take it to the dealer because I know that they will charge an arm and a leg for it and they take forever. Any tips on getting it out???

 

When I replace the extremely high mileage units on my 99 Sport, I just remove the strut housings, and dropped them off. Picked them both up the next day and seems to me it was very reasonable price wise.

 

Finaly got it out. I took off the retaining plate and reconnected the a-arm. Then I heated up the ball joint and used a pry bar to pull it out. I am going to use a little triflow to aid in the installation. I also have had the ball joint in the freezer for a few hours.