help-lower ball joint broke my vice!!!
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 319
Likes: 3
From: LONG ISLAND NY
help-lower ball joint broke my vice!!!
I have been redoing all my bushings and ball joints in my 86 corvette and polishing the aluminum. All was going well until I tried to install the lower ball joints. I tried to press them in using a 75lb. vice. and some metal stock as spacers.. Well, my vice broke--- I kid you not.
I am bringing them to a machine shop to have them installed on Monday, but am shocked this happened. I am afraid of breaking my A-arms now and thinking maybe the ball joints are wrong. I bought last summer and looked like the ones I pushed out...Don't have the boxes anymore but the numbers on the bottom are:
USA 42850 FA1661
any of you guys had an experiance like this?
this has been a real bummer
Harry
I am bringing them to a machine shop to have them installed on Monday, but am shocked this happened. I am afraid of breaking my A-arms now and thinking maybe the ball joints are wrong. I bought last summer and looked like the ones I pushed out...Don't have the boxes anymore but the numbers on the bottom are:
USA 42850 FA1661
any of you guys had an experiance like this?
this has been a real bummer
Harry
Instructor
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 105
Likes: 1
Re: help-lower ball joint broke my vice!!! (lawcorvette)
It definitely takes a lot of pressure to press these in and rightly so since this is all that holds them in. It can be done without a hydraulic press but requires a special tool that is built to take the abuse, which most typical shop vises are not built to take. I am sure that the machine shop will do a good job and they will go in just fine.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 7,839
Likes: 22
From: San Diego, Ca
Re: help-lower ball joint broke my vice!!! (lawcorvette)
You can buy the tool at Harbor Freight Tools for less than 20 bucks. For steel arms, you can hammer the joint in. For aluminum, best to use the tool or take it to a machine shop.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,858
Likes: 7
From: Santa Maria CA
Re: help-lower ball joint broke my vice!!! (lawcorvette)
You broke a 75 lbs. vice. Damn, I am glad now that I did not even attempt the same task using my smaller bench vice. I had a local machine shop do it for me in no time. The nomimal fee is well worth the time and aggrevation that you will avoid. I managed to install the new bushings onto one of my upper control arms using my vice. It was a major PITA. I did not even think of attempting the lower ball joints. That was out of the question. It takes some serious pressure to press the lower ones in and out.
[Modified by 86PACER, 2:27 AM 5/9/2004]
[Modified by 86PACER, 2:27 AM 5/9/2004]
Racer
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 416
Likes: 2
From: Westfield MA
Re: help-lower ball joint broke my vice!!! (lawcorvette)
I replaced my ball joints when I had the A-arms off for bushing replacement. I installed them using my vise with no problems. I work on helicopters for a living and have overhauled many transmissions with "aluminum" housings. The std. procedure for pressing out bearings and reinstalling them is to use an electric heat gun to "expand " the aluminum housing. When we install new bearings (which are a "line to line" tight fit), the bearing is put in the freezer for about 15 minutes and the aluminum housing is heated with the electric gun. The "cold" steel bearing presses into the "heated" aluminum housing with damaging the aluminum bore. I used the same procedure on the ball joints -------- ball joint in the freezer for 15 minutes and heated the A-arm bore area with the electric gun. The ball joint pressed in smoothly with no damage to the aluminum bore on the A-arm. You don't need to get too carried away with the heat. It doesn't need to be so hot that it will burn the flesh on your finger tip. The temperature difference (cold bearing vs. hot A-arm bore) is not nearly extreme enough to cause any metallurgical problems.
Its when you get in to using liquid nitrogen vs. higher heat that you have to be careful.
Its when you get in to using liquid nitrogen vs. higher heat that you have to be careful.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 9,715
Likes: 27
From: Kempner Texas
Re: help-lower ball joint broke my vice!!! (SS409 425HP)
I replaced my ball joints when I had the A-arms off for bushing replacement. I installed them using my vise with no problems. I work on helicopters for a living and have overhauled many transmissions with "aluminum" housings. The std. procedure for pressing out bearings and reinstalling them is to use an electric heat gun to "expand " the aluminum housing. When we install new bearings (which are a "line to line" tight fit), the bearing is put in the freezer for about 15 minutes and the aluminum housing is heated with the electric gun. The "cold" steel bearing presses into the "heated" aluminum housing with damaging the aluminum bore. I used the same procedure on the ball joints -------- ball joint in the freezer for 15 minutes and heated the A-arm bore area with the electric gun. The ball joint pressed in smoothly with no damage to the aluminum bore on the A-arm. You don't need to get too carried away with the heat. It doesn't need to be so hot that it will burn the flesh on your finger tip. The temperature difference (cold bearing vs. hot A-arm bore) is not nearly extreme enough to cause any metallurgical problems.
Its when you get in to using liquid nitrogen vs. higher heat that you have to be careful.
Its when you get in to using liquid nitrogen vs. higher heat that you have to be careful.
Jake
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