$10 Upper Ball Joint Socket - Really

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Just wanted to give a update on this socket. I picked it up and it worked great to remove the ball joints. I give it 2 thumbs up as a cheap alternative to the OE socket.
 
I ground off 4 points of a 1-7/8" 12 point socket that I never use.
 

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............I have had to use a 4 ft snipe on my 18 inch breaker bar a few times.............although I have never used an impact on them..........kim......
 
summit racing has a socket for 16$ its a impact ball joint socket by sunex that with a 40 inch 3/4 breaker bar should get any ball joint out
 
I just bought this and used it. Wow, super easy to remove the ball joints. Used my impact as well. The socket says not for use with an impact. But I was up for an adventure..
 
64cudaV8 said:
I just bought this and used it. Wow, super easy to remove the ball joints. Used my impact as well. The socket says not for use with an impact. But I was up for an adventure..
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Yeah, I just did a few impacts at a time 'til things started to move.

I've since seen this same tool elsewhare, like at NAPA. Not sure if any other brands are better/stronger.
 
Picked up one of the O'Really sockets today. Gonna try it out tonight. Hope it goes as easy as some others. Thanks for the tip..
 
$10 worked like a dream. Had UCA in a vise, couple hits with the impact, spun right out. Thanks for saving me some dough!
 
Do this fit the oldies, like my -65 Barracuda, or the later -73 up A-bodies? I'm about to replace all the balljoints of mine, and was wondering if I need a socket, or if it will come off with some Kroil and an adjustable wrench...
 
AW-100 said:
Do this fit the oldies, like my -65 Barracuda, or the later -73 up A-bodies? I'm about to replace all the balljoints of mine, and was wondering if I need a socket, or if it will come off with some Kroil and an adjustable wrench...
Click to expand...

This socket is for the large ball joint 73 up style.
 
nm9stheham said:
So here it is Sat late Sat afternoon, one UCA is out, and the non-socket attempts to unsrcew the upper ball joints aren't working and NAPA is long closed. So I go to the usual Advance/O'reilly/Otterzone circuit to see what I can gin up for a 1-59/64" 4 wall socket substitute. Advance has a $180 deposit set that I can rent, so I kept looking and at Oreilly's, I run a across a 2-1/4" 4WD spindle socket that fits thr BJ flats amazingly well (their PN W1269). It has 4 small tangs to fit a spindle nut, so I was not sure how it might work, but, for $10, 'what the hey'..I could go back to Advance tomorrow AM..... and I don't care to save these BJ's.


SO, when I get in the garage, I figure I'll be lazy and try it with the impact wrench. Got it in place, held the socket with a rag to keep it stable, hit it with just a few impacts...."Hey did that move?" A few more impacts and for sure it is turning the ball joint out, no problemo. It was a piece of cake, working a short impact burst at a time, re-checking the socket's alignment each time, and the BJ was out in about a minute. The fact that the BJ and UCA had soaked in PB Blaster for an hour + did not hurt.


Next was to try to on the UCA and BJ still in the car. With a whole 1 minute of PB soak time, the result was the same: the BJ started turning out on the first impacts. In a bit over a minute of just short bursts on the impact wrench, it was out. This BJ was a tiny bit crooked coming out; I did not wipe all the grease away first to see if it had been installed crooked the last time. I know tomorrow when I clean the UCA up really good.


I expected the tangs of the tool to dig into the BJ more, but it did not. You can see in the pix below on the 2 BJ's; the marks on the right are from this tool and the ones on the left were from the prior installation. The tangs on the socket flattened just a bit and that made a flat contact patch on the BJ flange.


I like this socket because:
1) it takes a 1/2" drive, not the 3/4" that the standard socket takes and which many people do not have
2) it is tall and so you can hold your hand on it with a rag and keep it stable/seated with an impact wrench
3) it is $10!


This might not work so well with a breaker bar since it IS so tall and could be less stable than the normal very low socket for this app. The tangs could be ground recessed a bit so this would be more stable with a breaker bar.


Good luck if you try it! YMMV..... Sorry the photos aren't sharper.
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I used the spindle socket and it worked. It was a little difficult on the install keeping it on the ball joint. Sadly, I had to change them again because the ones I put in were DEFECTIVE pieces of CRAP. I ordered new ball joints from Summit and ordered the $13 1+59/64 socket at the same time. It was a little bit sloppy on my 72 Valiant, but fit better than the spindle socket. It would probably fit perfectly on 73+up.
All in all, a good investment.
 
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