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View Full Version : Beating off your knuckle joint



toonces
08-10-2015, 10:59 PM
'11 700 Grizz here and I'm in the middle of disassembling one of my front knuckles to do a boot replace and I've most def reached a stopping point. So far I've got the caliper off as well as the 2 castle nuts for the knuckle and the 1 for the steering arm, but for the life of me I can't separate any of those joints the castle nuts were securing. I've beat on all of them using a big rubber mallet with no luck at all. Is there something else holding these joints together I haven't found maybe?

My next ideas are to try to detach the shock from the lower control arm so maybe that'll give way a little easier, as well as letting some PB blaster soak into the joints before pounding on them again. Thought I should ask on her first before using the PB though.

Last time I had to separate a joint like these was on my '96 Cherokee replacing one of my steering linkages. Had to get a special 2 prong fork tool to insert into the joint and pound away before it came apart. For some reason I don't think that'll be the answer for this one though.

I'm all ears.

Scro
08-11-2015, 05:56 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDcRpSXpDcg

toonces
08-11-2015, 09:32 PM
Great idea thanks. In the end I went with a tool from Harbor Freight called a ball joint separator (I think) that does essentially the same thing. Worked like a charm.

Pic link option isn't working so well so here it is...

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_12294.jpg