New Zealand Datsun Club

I had my Cam done by Kiwi Cams few years back and Snow did a great job, cruises along nicely to 3000rpm then really opens up between 3000-5000rpm

I'm having trouble taking the bottom ball joint off the bottom knuckle and similar on the steering rod. Any tricks ideas?

Get two BFH's.
Smack the part which has the taper passing through it on opposite sides similtaniously. Leave the nut on a few turns so you dont damage the thread if you miss.

Bartman wrote:Get two BFH's.
Smack the part which has the taper passing through it on opposite sides similtaniously. Leave the nut on a few turns so you dont damage the thread if you miss.

Hammers didn't work with my skills. So I went and bought a ball joint tool (only $16 down from $60 thanks to Repco Card ) and managed to get the knuckle to steering rod off but no luck with the ball joint. It bent the bolt and then destroyed the thread on the ball joint tool.

What have I missed?

there is the part which the taper from the ball joint passes through. Smack that either side with two hammers in unison. The similtanious impact causes the pocket which the ball joint is locked into to distort and go out of round for just an instant. This will make it eject the ball joint.
Once you've done a few, you don't even bother with ball joint separators any more. (I've never owned one)

Listen to Bart he speaks the truth!

I have a ball joint tool,
It has it uses if you know what you are doing.
You won't need two hammers. Too hard with one person.

I use a Pry bar to put downward pressure on the lower arm for stubborn joints. Other wise just smack the bit the bit where tapered part of the ball joint goes though. Upload a pic. Ill high light.

I managed it by just going to town on it
Had the sledge hammer rested on one side and then just kept hitting it with the hammer on a slight angle at the otherside.
Got it randomly after a couple ten or so hits and the other side was a piece of piss.
Fudged the thread on tough side though as I forgot to put nut back on before attacking with hammer.
More lessons learnt though and had a peaceful/bliss time working on the car.

All the front suspension and steering are now off the front.
Bushes and seals were well passed expiry date.

Now clean, paint and re-grease, seal and bush.
Read that oven cleaner works well on hard to clean parts but going to use grease cleaner first.

Does anybody have the fixed break line that goes from the strut to the callipers for 1200 coupe disc breaks?
I have just reshaped the old drum ones but unsure if this is wise to do so?

Ball joints are easy when you know how.
I've only ever had one (On the sunny which Dylphyl ended up with) which I really struggled with.

Can somebody explain the idler arm dust boot to me?

It seems odd that one end of the steering rack that joins to the steering rod is a ballsocket like the tie rod ends which requires grease etc but the other side that joins to the idler arm isn't?