Ghetto lower ball joint press experiment
 

I've been wanting to rebuild the front suspension on the blue wonder for some time, having aquired all new suspension parts I was stalled by not having the Lower ball joint press. The price of this tool has come DOWN to about $360 in the past year or so. Being the tight wad that I am I figured that there is an alternative.

Pic one: Scrap pipe which had nearly the same I.D. as the lip on the ball joint, was cut using a sawzall and the bench grinder to fit.

Pic two: The press in the vise.

Pic three: Since the ball joint would bottom out before it was driven home, two shims were added so that the ball joint would be fully inserted.

In conclusion, there is no subsitute for the propper tool. With the real press this job takes less than 5 min. each. With my tool it took about an hour each due to repositioning and reinsertion if it started to go in cock-eyed. The tool became worn and I had to regrind new faces after each ball joint insertion.