Hey all. Been awhile.

Long story short -

Daughter ran my Sporty into a tree.

End of story

Took out left front a-arm, tierod, and ball joint.
A-Arm and tierod have been replaced.
Problem is with ball joint.

The Ball separated from the joint. So now I have a hole in the bottom of my strut where the bolt should be sticking out. (there is nothing wrong with the strut)
I have no idea how I am gonna get the joint out of the strut. Everyplace I read says "just attach puller to bolt, heat up and use pickly fork or puller and Voila. Well I have no bolt to connect to.

Do I have to take apart the strut? Is it possble to get at the ball joint from the CV side?

Help!

 

try heating the strut up with a heat gun and pull the joint with vise grips

 

I have used a small propane torch, heat it up and it should come right off.

 

Which part of the strut should I heat up? The bottom?
Ive seen other posts that say that heating up the strut can cause damage, is this true?

 

im not sure if the strut assembly is heat treated/tempered. If its made out of any tempered aluminum the heat, if hot enough, could ruin the strength.

 

you could try and get someone to weld a stud on it to pull it out.

 

Remove the strut from the bike, remove the shock, then remove the plate and two screws, use the propane torch and heat up right around were the ball joint is sitting. After it good and hot it should come right out then slide the new one in then cool it off with water. I have used a torch to change my ball joints out once and my berrings three times and I have never had any troubles with the strut tower and I am very hard on the bike with the type of riding we do.

 

propane torch, vise grips and a hammer did the trick.

Old joint is out. New joint is in freezer. Im assuming this is to get the metal to contract as much as possbile then I heat up the strut and slide the new joint in?

I tried putting it right in after I got the other one out but it wasnt going. WOndering if there is something I should use to tap it in? I mean I shouldnt really tap on the end of the bolt should I?

 

No ,you shouldn't tap on the ball bolt. if you have a deep well socket or even a short length of pipe, that is large enough to just fit on the joint itself and not touch the ball, then hammer (press ) the new joint in. There's no need for any heat for installation,just a cold joint and make sure you are tapping the joint in straight.

 

Put the nut on the bolt untell it's flush then, Make shure the strut tower is good and hot and Use a piece of wood on the bolt and tap it in.