knocked my control arm ball joint into the knuckle too far now...

[jimdigs]

I can't get it back out of the knuckle. Here is what happened. I was checking on how things looked after I put the knuckle back together two weeks ago after having bearings pressed on. I notice on the drivers side, side I didn't do, that the arm of the ball joint is sitting much higher into the knuckle then the side I just did. (see photos) The side I just did you could not even see the arm sticking out of the top of the knuckle at all. So I start thinking, oh no, this thing is about to fall out, I must not of put it in right to begin with. So I loosen the control arm at the knuckle and knock the arm of the ball joint into the same position as the one on my drivers side but now the bolt will not go in because of the slot in the arm is not positioned in the right spot. So do ya think I had the thing it right to begin with? I can not get the arm joint out of knuckle now. Do I have to disconnect the tie rod to get the control arm out of the knuckle? Can't get the thing to budge, I had something wedged between the knuckle slot and it still wouldn't budge. HELP!!

[gergorian]

Spray it down with PB Blaster or something similar. Put something in the slot to try and wedge it open a tad then use a pry bar and put it between the balljoint and the CV axle. Don't pry too hard as you might damage the axle but that should work. I have had to do this in the past and it worked for me.

[koRnhead]

If the bolt was in. Then it was in the right spot. As you've just discovered. You won't get the bolt in if the groove isn't in the right spot.

[jimdigs]

Update..Got the thing back down. Did pretty much what gergorian suggested. Got the bolt back in and here is a picture, as you can see it barely sticks out of the knuckle top hole. Guess thats just the way its supposed to be. The side where the arm sits high in the knuckle does need a new control arm. My tire wiggles around quite a bit when jacked up.

[WmWatt]

yeah, in the 2dn photo the groove isn't showing so it's not lined up.

[gergorian]

Awesome to see that you got it. I have seen in the past that the distance from the top of the groove to the tip of the balljoint can be bigger than the original ones. Which means that even thought the bolt will go in, you may have some of the balljoint sticking out. which can be confusing if you don't compare the new to old ones.