Trouble removing nuts from ball joints, for ball joint change. Please help

[Jon T]

Hi all

 

This is my first post on this forum so "hello"

 

I have recently purchased my first 350z, it is a 2004 Import. It is not roadworthy and so there are a few things I must do to get her up and running.

 

The first thing is to replace the front offside lower ball joint (this is the one that joins the hub carrier to the lower control arm).

 

I am used to working on 200SX's, which have a similar layout, but I have run into a problem with the 350 that I never got on any of my 200SX's.

 

The first thing I did was to remove the locking pin that goes through the top of the ball joint thread. Then liberally applied plusgas to the 22mm ball joint nut. I did not use any heat as these arms seem to be alloy rather than steel, so I do not want to damage them. Next tried to un-do the 22mm ball joint nut, but rather than the nut un-doing, the whole male part of the ball joint is turning, making it impossible to un-do the nut. It is turning fairly freely without much resistance.

 

Thinking that this may be a one-off, I tried the smaller ball joint, the one between the top of the hub assembly and the upper wishbone, and indeed that did exactly the same. So it will probably be the same with all of the ball joints on the car.

 

At this point I would usually go to town with a grinder, but this is not a £500 200SX, its an expensive car and I can not afford to mess this up.

 

As I am doing this ball joint it also seems logical to replace the various bushes in the arms, which requires splitting all of the arms from the hub carrier.

 

So I am stuck now with no way to get these arms apart and this ball joint off.

 

The car is on axle stands with no wheels on obviously. Cant think what else to say.

 

Can anyone see anything obvious that I have done wrong?

 

Thanks very much

[Mack]

Borrow or buy an impact gun, that will get it off.

 

I bought one for this specific purpose.

[Greg Warnes]

You'll need to force the ball joint and lower control arm together to stop the tapered cone inside the joint from spinning with the nut.

 

Try pushing the ball joint upwards with a lever or a bottle jack.

[ZMANALEX]

As above, get a trolly jack or HUGE bar and force the ball joint and seating cone together, with a bit of brute force you should be able to "lock" the ball joint from spinning.

 

All ball joints, seating cones, bushings, arms and nuts in stock if required.

 

Alex.

Edited March 11, 2013 by ZMANALEX

[Jon T]

Cool thanks guys. I'll give it a go tomorrow.

 

Yup Ill probably be chasing you for parts later Alex

 

Thanks