varzaman Posted July 27, 2025 Report Share Posted July 27, 2025 (edited) I have a ball joint separator with a 3/4" opening from Harbor Freight, like so: https://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-quarter-inch-forged-ball-joint-separator-99849.html I was hoping this would be a good replacement for the tool the manual lists as MB991113/MB990635. Unfortunately it doesn't actually fit, the jaws are too narrow for me to get underneath the idler or pitman arm. I can't find any specs about the MB991113/MB990635, so I have no idea how big their jaw openings are. What size does the jaw openings need to be to get them out? I don't want to use a pickle fork for fear of damage. Anyone know of a tool that fits? Edited July 27, 2025 by varzaman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varzaman Posted July 30, 2025 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2025 (edited) So I tried a separator that has a 7/8" opening and that still wouldn't fit. It looks like the jaws are too thick to actually fit in, not that the opening is too small. The boots on the idle part of the center link look like trash anyways, so I don't care anymore about keeping it nice, I'm getting the center link replaced. I don't own any pickle forks, so before I buy some I'm gonna just try hammering the ball joint tool into place or just hammering on the knuckle and seeing if it pops it loose. Edited July 30, 2025 by varzaman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tux Posted July 30, 2025 Report Share Posted July 30, 2025 I used a ball joint tool. Worked just fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psu_Crash Posted July 31, 2025 Report Share Posted July 31, 2025 Get a ball joint or a small 2/3 jaw puller on it tight. Then heat, a lot. Smack the side with a ball pean and it usually comes right off. Don't be shy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varzaman Posted August 5, 2025 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2025 I had to pound the hell outta the ball joint tool to get it in there. It basically acted like a pickle fork, because when it actually seated itself it popped the center link off anyways, so never ended up using the the actual press part of the tool lol. But yea, its off now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psu_Crash Posted August 6, 2025 Report Share Posted August 6, 2025 Glad to hear you got it off. Those can be a real PITA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varzaman Posted August 8, 2025 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2025 On 8/6/2025 at 1:30 PM, psu_Crash said: Glad to hear you got it off. Those can be a real PITA Thanks, got a little further until I got stopped again. Now I can't get the box removed from the steering coupler lmao. Luckily I was planning on pulling the whole column out anyways because I need to replace the coupler, but now I *have* to do it before I can get the box out. Never gonna get this thing shipped out at this rate lol. Redoing the steering is by far the worst job I've done on this car so far lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psu_Crash Posted August 10, 2025 Report Share Posted August 10, 2025 It is definitely one of the more frustrating jobs. I changed out my steering box 3 times with "rebuilt" units before finally sending mine off to Red Head Sterring gears about 10 years ago. If I never have to pull that with the engine in the car again, it will still be too soon! You got this! 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varzaman Posted August 10, 2025 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2025 (edited) 13 hours ago, psu_Crash said: It is definitely one of the more frustrating jobs. I changed out my steering box 3 times with "rebuilt" units before finally sending mine off to Red Head Sterring gears about 10 years ago. If I never have to pull that with the engine in the car again, it will still be too soon! You got this! 🙂 I got it off yesterday! Loosened the steering column, I was able to gently give it a tap from below while someone was pulling on the column and it slid off. To drop the gearbox itself, surprisingly all I had to do was detach the fuel hose and that's it. Had enough room to wiggle it out. Edited August 10, 2025 by varzaman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varzaman Posted August 10, 2025 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2025 (edited) Almost done removing all the tie rods and ball joints. It's always something, I'm trying to remove the lower ball joint from the knuckle arm, and check it out, completely broke my ball joint tool. Besides beating it with a hammer and heat, will a pickle fork do better? Edited August 10, 2025 by varzaman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psu_Crash Posted August 11, 2025 Report Share Posted August 11, 2025 I have broken plenty of those and pickle forks doing the same job on not just SQs. With something like this I usually go get rental tools from the local parts store. Then there is no worry about breaking them 😄 Getting that out of the knuckle can be difficult. Even with a pickle fork I would heat it up, get some tension on it, then smack the side with a ball peen. After letting it soak in PB blaster or your penetrating oil of choice overnight. It doesn't need to be super hot. Just enough to help break it loose. Getting the pitman arm off the box was the one that really gave me issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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