Sports Car Club of Vermont

My son recently got a 2005 Subaru Forester. I'm trying to replace one of the ball joints (and the axle) on it, and have got the ball joint separated from the control arm, and the axle out of the hub. I've also managed to get the ball joint pinch bolt out without breaking it. (Yay!) All that's left now is to get the ball joint out of the knuckle, and that @$%^# is kicking my a**.

I've tried various sure-fire remedies found on the Internet, and various combinations of floor jacks, cold chisels, air hammers, pickle forks, BFHs, lots of Kroil, and lots of heat, but that ball joint is no closer to coming out than it was when I started.

Does anyone here have any experience with this? There's gotta be a way to get that stupid thing out!

Success! This Internet guy came up with a homemade ball-joint puller that worked like a charm: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/99- ... uller.html. If anyone else reads this and happens to need to get a Subie ball joint out, this tool will pop it out in a few minutes. It took me a lot longer to actually make the thing than it did to use it.

about to say ya live close by im sure we could have managed something. glad it worked , they are normaly a PITA but that homemade tool the guy had looks pritty good, I may have to try that my self sometime

Pretty cool, Dave. I didn't realize how large everything was until the 1 1/8 wrench was brought into the picture.