Thrust Arms: I give up....

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08-09-2005, 05:54 PM
infinity5

Thrust Arms: I give up....

Ok, I give up, the control and thrust arms are impossible to seperate from the steering knuckle. I'm just going to buy a new steering knucle and throw the entire assembly away.

I started to just remove the bushing bolts and steering knuckle- per Bill R's Method until i realized i had no room on jack stands to work on anyhting.. so i removed the strurt housing/rotors on each side.. took brake callipers off.. removed the entire sway bar/links... finally got the steering tie rods seperated.

and here i am, pounding the balljoints with a sledge hammer getting absolutely no where. I bent a massive bolt on a tie-rod seperator when i tried using that.... How were these put together? i'm starting to think they welded them on my car and just not everyone elses.
08-09-2005, 06:04 PM
632 Regal

you might need an acetaline torch to heat the area right before you smack it with the picklefork...mine was the same way, first the 5lb then the 10 and finally the #20 sledge and then had to do the heat and it popped right off. The reason that it is so tight is someone before you over tightened it (most likly).
08-09-2005, 06:19 PM
Bill R.

Did you unbolt the thrust arm and control arm assy from the

frame and set them on something solid like I posted before at this link
If so it will just pop off without even hitting it that hard. If you're trying to wack it on the car its a lot harder because there's no way to support the assy rigidly so your hammer to can work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by infinity5

Ok, I give up, the control and thrust arms are impossible to seperate from the steering knuckle. I'm just going to buy a new steering knucle and throw the entire assembly away.

I started to just remove the bushing bolts and steering knuckle- per Bill R's Method until i realized i had no room on jack stands to work on anyhting.. so i removed the strurt housing/rotors on each side.. took brake callipers off.. removed the entire sway bar/links... finally got the steering tie rods seperated.

and here i am, pounding the balljoints with a sledge hammer getting absolutely no where. I bent a massive bolt on a tie-rod seperator when i tried using that.... How were these put together? i'm starting to think they welded them on my car and just not everyone elses.
08-09-2005, 06:26 PM
632 Regal

**** Bill, thats cheating!
08-09-2005, 09:45 PM
DanDombrowski

oh man I've been there, spent a good 8 hours on trying to get them out. Sadly, I didn't have the time to continue working on it and had to take it to a shop. They only charged me like $75 to put them both in, so it wasnt bad, but I wish I could have taken the pride in doing it myself. But yeah, thems are SOBs to get off.
08-09-2005, 09:51 PM
liquidtiger720

I feel lucky. Mine came out in less than a Minute.
08-10-2005, 12:07 PM
infinity5

Update

Yes bill, i had the steering knucle supported on bricks and was wacking the balljoints with a hammer... Mine were just in tighter than the average bear.

I finally gave up and took it to a shop and had them do it. $20 and 20minutes of pounding (or whatever they did) got them all out. I wish I had done this days ago!

Anyway, now its time to put everything back together. I still don't know how i'm going to hold the Thrustarm brushing nuts still... I'll just go get my wrench ground down at a shop somewhere.

Since the balljoints turn when i try to tighten the nut, i have to use a big clap and hold the top side of the ball joint against the steering plate to keep it still, correct?
08-10-2005, 01:58 PM
Bill R.

Rather than pay a shop to grind down the wrench go

buy a 4 inch angle grinder from harbor freight for 14.99 , probably less than you'd pay to have it ground and grind the sides off to this dimensionhttp://www.bimmernut.com/%7Ebillr/images/22mmmodify.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by infinity5

Yes bill, i had the steering knucle supported on bricks and was wacking the balljoints with a hammer... Mine were just in tighter than the average bear.

I finally gave up and took it to a shop and had them do it. $20 and 20minutes of pounding (or whatever they did) got them all out. I wish I had done this days ago!

Anyway, now its time to put everything back together. I still don't know how i'm going to hold the Thrustarm brushing nuts still... I'll just go get my wrench ground down at a shop somewhere.

Since the balljoints turn when i try to tighten the nut, i have to use a big clap and hold the top side of the ball joint against the steering plate to keep it still, correct?
08-10-2005, 04:38 PM
Ted K

I took the nut off the joint. Hand tightened it back on to just cover the threads. Then held my air chisel with a blunt bit on it and knocked them right out. Only took a couple of minutes per side with air tools.
08-10-2005, 04:40 PM
632 Regal

http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthr...7610#post67610
08-10-2005, 05:49 PM
uscharalph

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ted K

I took the nut off the joint. Hand tightened it back on to just cover the threads. Then held my air chisel with a blunt bit on it and knocked them right out. Only took a couple of minutes per side with air tools.

Air Tools!!!!!
08-10-2005, 05:58 PM
pyro

use a puller to get it off. thats what i did worked like a charm
08-10-2005, 06:43 PM
infinity5

Thanks bill. The only think i'm concerned about is time. I'm not sure i can wait for harbor freight to ship me a grinder. I really need the car by friday morning, and at the latest sunday morning. But that gives me an idea, i might check around some local places or walmart for an el-chepo grinding device.

Anyway, the car is totally back together and sitting on its own 4-feet =D !!! the only thing to do is torque the bushing bolts tomorrow morning and she'll be good to go! I hope i put everything back together correctly ;)

oooo i miss driving it so much. i hope i did everyhting right.
08-10-2005, 07:32 PM
Bill R.

Here's the store locations in florida , i thought they would have

one in gainesville, looks like ocala is the closest

Quote:

Originally Posted by infinity5

Thanks bill. The only think i'm concerned about is time. I'm not sure i can wait for harbor freight to ship me a grinder. I really need the car by friday morning, and at the latest sunday morning. But that gives me an idea, i might check around some local places or walmart for an el-chepo grinding device.

Anyway, the car is totally back together and sitting on its own 4-feet =D !!! the only thing to do is torque the bushing bolts tomorrow morning and she'll be good to go! I hope i put everything back together correctly ;)

oooo i miss driving it so much. i hope i did everyhting right.
08-11-2005, 12:08 AM
ryan roopnarine

ive unfortunately been to ho-cala to deal with the highway patrol and eventually the court. one time went to the harbor freight for some $4 volt ohm meters and a spring loaded punch. drive there is 35 miles, back 70......at 2.35 for 87 octane.....plus time....

i got my allen key "made" at a local machine shop, as they were not doing much. they insisted that they grind the burs off the main key and the bit...cost to me was $5. grinding down a wrench might be a bit more. but if you color in/mark the parts you want removed from the thing, they might fancy it easy.

$hit. forgot. if you drive over to my apartment, you can borrow my 7/8(whatever gale said was equivalent) wrench that i've already ground down for the purpose, you can borrow it for a couple days, with the understanding that i'd like it back.
08-11-2005, 09:55 AM
ryan roopnarine

bump.

if you want to borrow my ground down wrench, pm me or indicate here and ill pm you my telephone no and address.
08-11-2005, 01:22 PM
infinity5

Ryan, check your pm.

Hmm, i forgot to put loctite on the steering knuckle to strut housing bolts....mmm... think they'll fall apart?
08-11-2005, 09:46 PM
TheDuke

Pittman tie-rod puller, you can get it at Pepboys for about $30. Took me less than a minute to take them off. Worst part was removing the bushing side of the arm...