kevsgt

Figured the bolts out. Apparently I was torquing on the nut that is welded to frame. Now all the LCA bolts are loose, including the pinch bolt at the ball joint, but I don't know how to break the ball joint free from the LCA. And what keeps the spindle, and entire strut, from falling out of the car once I get the ball joint out??

Derf00

Did you leave the top part of your strut attached to the car and the lower part attached to the spindle? If not, do it. You can just hand tighten all the nuts/bolts. That''ll everything hold just fine.

As for separating the ball joint from the spindle. Since you'll be putting in a new LCA with ball joint, damaging the ball joint does't matter. Spray some penetrant in there where the stud goes into the spindle and let it soak a few hours. Get a pry bar in between the top of the ball joint stud and whatever is above it, see if that'll break it free.

I prefer to use what's called a pickle fork or a Ball Joint separator. Wedge it in there between the ball joint and the spindle, then pound away with a 2lb or 4lb sledge. Again, since you're not worried about damaging the ball joint, it's the easiest and fastest way.

You can also just pound downward on the control arm as close as you can get to the ball joint. The seperator tool just focuses all of that force in the spot where it is the most effective along with using physics (wedge).

kevsgt

Thanks. Got it all finished! I noticed my front end seemed about an inch higher when I put the car back down to the ground. Then when I started the car and rolled forward it immediately dropped down. As if the struts springs were not compressed until things shifted a bit.

Derf00

Nice! Yep that happens (dropping a bit) , It will all settle down in a few days. Be sure to double check all the nuts/bolts for proper torque after driving it for a week or so.