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  #1  
Old 09-25-2017, 10:26 PM
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Ball Joint Press for W201?

Hi -

Wondering if anyone has leads on a ball joint press that would work for a W201. I struggled through with the Autozone kit last time and would prefer to rent or buy the right tool this time (5 years later).

Bruce
190D 1 Family 149,000km

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Old 09-25-2017, 10:42 PM
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I know it seems like tough love, but a big old hammer works great. Take a look at this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KEpqTSOR3g

It's a 124, but the architecture is identical. Notice that he doesn't try to drive the joint straight down. He lays it over and strikes it on the top corner. The ball leverages the force of the hammer and drives the joint right out.

He has that odd jackstand to help drive it back in. What you can use instead is a 1 1/2" pipe flange resting on an ordinary jack stand. That will spread out the force and allow the joint to go in smoothly. One other tip is not to hammer directly on the ears, as you can miss and screw up the new joint. Use a heavy drift or bolt on the ear and hammer on that. Also, if the joint comes with a plastic cover keep that in place to protect the boot until it's hammered into place. Use protective glasses while you're doing this in case something pops.

I've done it this way and it really works just as pictured. No damage to the control arm or bushing.
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Old 09-25-2017, 10:51 PM
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Wow, that was interesting!

Did you mean a pipe flange like this? https://www.amazon.com/LDR-311-F-112-Galvanized-Flange/dp/B000FPAM6W

Do you think same setup but wth a jack under the ball joint rather than a jack stand would work? Seems that would be more adjustable in the absence of a lift.
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Old 09-26-2017, 09:16 AM
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That's awesome.
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Old 09-26-2017, 10:23 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bruce.g.cameron View Post
Wow, that was interesting!

Did you mean a pipe flange like this? https://www.amazon.com/LDR-311-F-112-Galvanized-Flange/dp/B000FPAM6W

Do you think same setup but wth a jack under the ball joint rather than a jack stand would work? Seems that would be more adjustable in the absence of a lift.

That's all you need. The "cup" of the flange is just the right size to hold the ball joint. A jack would work fine.
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Old 09-28-2017, 06:54 AM
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Looks like he had the new ball joint in the freezer before install. This way works, but a traditional large c clamp style ball joint press is less actual work. Might take a little longer to setup, but dont have swing a hammer.
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Old 09-28-2017, 10:46 AM
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No need to freeze the joints. They go in easily with a few swings of the hammer. A balljoint press is nice, but this is faster.
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  #8  
Old 10-15-2017, 03:56 PM
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Thanks to everyone for the help. The car is back together (although cock-eyed without an alignment yet).

Couple of notes from my experience.

1) Bashing out the old ball joints worked really well. 4 pound metal hammer would have been the ideal tool, but with a lighter hammer I had to work more.

2) Using the car's weight to put the ball joints in did not work for me. Two reasons - very hard to align the ball joint just so, and more importantly, I didn't feel comfortable with the springs. What's not shown in his video is he has done something to restrict the spring from jumping out.

I ended up doing it with a makeshift press in my 4in vise, using a 2" pipe coupler and a 1.5" pipe bushing. I still had to hammer on the ears ~10 cycles, then extra compress the vise, because I couldn't quite generate enough pressure.

I also took the time while I was in there to wire brush the mount points for the control arms and POR-15 them.

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