Lower Ball Joint -1; POS Harbor Freight Vice - 0 - Page 4 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Diesel911 · #46 07-05-2010, 12:46 AM

The threading on the C-presses are extremely sloppy/loose and the C-press C opening is larger than the opening in the Mercedes tool so both of those by themselves conspire to cause some misalignment.
The bottom plate pointed to in my pic by the Yellow Arrow is an as cast plate and not precision machined.

The comparison is between a $375 Special Too built to do a specific job and a generic multipurpose tool that can be had for around $30

The third choice is the JTC remover and installer at around $120 that needs to be used with a Hydraulic Press. If you have no Hydraulic Press you would need to take it to a shop that has one and pay them to press in your Ball Joints.
One of our members made the Ball Joint Press in the 2nd pic.

Diesel911 · #47 07-05-2010, 12:48 AM

I forgot to say there is a good DIY on the use of the JTC Tool.

jkubica · #48 07-05-2010, 09:37 AM

[QUOTE=tangofox007;2499181]There is a liquidator on Ebay whose main product line appears to be Harbor Freight returns. Try searching for "Tadd."[/Q

Hi
I found "tadd" - thanks.

Now I would like to change my observation to: I have to wonder about folks who would buy bent or broken tools on E-Bay.

Joseph

tankowner · #49 07-05-2010, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diesel911

I forgot to say there is a good DIY on the use of the JTC Tool.

Thank you. Yes, I have seen that well-written DIY. Unfortuntely, as we all know from the HF vice incident, I have no press. I will give the AZ press a try. Knowing the dangers as highlighted by Tango, I will proceed with caution and see if I can find a way to improvise (I know, I know - "Remember what happened last time you improvised?")

tankowner · #50 07-05-2010, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diesel911

The first pic is mine. You need to remove the Ball Joint Boot in order to use the C-press.
If I had it to do again I would have taking the time to grind a Washer to go between the Joint and the C-press where the red arrow is as Joint (a Lemforder) is some what rounded where the C-Press makes contact and the does not make it as easy for the C-press to be kept flat on the joint.

I turned the C-press with a socket and a Breaker Bar but I was reinstalling the Old Ball Joints. They still went in hard; lubed with Motor Oil.

Last Pic: On the forums I have seen pics of 2 different persons using the C-press with an Impact Wrench. I have not done this so I cannot comment on it.

If you us one of the Autozone C-presses before you rent it take a look at the area that is going to contact the Joint. On the one I looked at that area was deformed by someone who had used it previously.

I rented that Autozone one anyway as I wanted to compare C-Presses. I own 2 C-presses. The one in the pic is a PitBull one and I got a Harbor Freight one when on sale.
The Autozone one was better quality of the 3 presses.

Note; the C-press can be used for other things. A few weeks after pressing in the Ball Joints I was using it to Press in the Bearing Caps on a U-joint.

So, this morning I decided to go out and get the AZ C-press. The local imports garage is right next door and the owner was standing outside so I decided to walk over and inquire about the pricing to have the ball joints pressed in. I began by asking if they had the right tool for Mercedes. He said yes - both for pressing them out and in. So asked him how much it would cost to press new ones in if I brought in the knuckle and the new ball joint. He says $50. Fifty bucks for both sides, not too bad I say. No, $50 a piece he says. Oh - okay, well thanks. Back to AZ I go and rent the C-press. It is $100 to rent, but of course you get it back upon return. Easy choice for this cheapskate.

So I took the above advice with a few modifications. First, after removing the boot, I took a piece of plastic wrap and it pulled down over the BJ stud so that it covered the exposed grease. I wanted to avoid getting any junk in there and that worked out well. Then, per Diesel, I placed a 1" ID (2.5" OD) washer down over the ball joint stud. It was a good fit and I can see how without it there would have been one more positioning variable to deal with while pressing.

Side note: My original thought was to find a washer with a large enough ID ( would need to be about 1.8" on the Meyle ball joint) to slip down onto the flange (that the proper MB tool would press on). My thinking was that I could stack enough of said washers up, then place one of the 1" ID (2.5" OD) washers on top of that stack. That way the C-press would make contact with the top 1" ID washer, but distribute force to the other washers stacked below on the flange. Unfortunately, they (I bought my washers at Westlake (Ace) hardware) didn't carry washers larger than 1" ID. They did have a selection of machine bushings that had larger inner diameters, but I think the outer diameters would have been a little too big inside the knuckle. However, if someone were so inclined, what they could do is buy about 5 of the 1" ID washers and then on four of them, grind out the ID to fit down on the flange. The final washer would remain 1" ID and fit on top to make contact with the press. I was actually going to do this, but I figured it would take all day to grind the ID out with my grinder.

Anyway, I took my time, got everything lined up and pressed the new one in. I think it looks pretty good. I was paranoid that I wasn't going to get it in straight, so I kept taking the press off and measuring up from the bottom with the depth gauge on my calipers. It was pretty close all around throughout the pressing - I'm talking hundredths of an inch and that is probably within the error range of my measurement capability. I pressed it in good and tight until it was seated. The base of the ball joint stuck out a little on the bottom after it was pressed in. Again I measured the amount sticking out at various points around the circumference and found it to equal all around (again, only off by a tiny amount that was well within the measurement error range.)

All in all, I am please with the outcome. If I had more time, I might have tried to grind out several washer to attempt the approach I described above. However, I honestly believe there was zero damage done to the ball joint and it is certainly going to be a thousand times better than the rusted out, no boot, no grease piece of junk ball joint that was in there. Also, if you use the AZ press, take a good long look at the knuckle and the ball joint before you begin. I would heed the warnings that say you could damage the ball joint using this press, because I think you could if you kept cranking on the press after the ball joint was seated. However, I took various measurement throughout and kept a close eye on everything as I went - and I went slowly. But, really, as long as you get it going straight and keep an eye on it so you know when to stop, I think you can successfully use the C-press. No, I don't have any hard scientific evidence of that. But, I am comfortable that I got it in straight and backed off once it was seated. Again, I am pleased with the outcome.

Time to return the press and get my moola back.

Diesel911 · #51 07-05-2010, 08:23 PM

Perfect!
$50 to press each joint in is no good.