Bolt seized in ball joint

Looking for some advice from anyone who has had a similar experience. I am in the process of replacing all of the steering and suspension bushings on my f430. Everything was going great. I finished the outer tie rod ends, sway bar bushings, sway bar end links, upper ball joints, and one lower ball joint. When I got to the final lower ball joint, I found the bolt that goes through the ball joint is seized in the ball joint. It unthreads fine from the stub axle, but will not come out no matter what I do. I have tried putting a jack under the A arm to change the angle that the ball joint sits, tapping it with a hammer, using an impact, grabbing it with vice grips . . . its stuck good.

The issue is that with the way the system is designed, you cant take the A arm off until it is swung down, because the A arm is in the way of the mounting bolts that hold it to the chassis. Anyone run into this and have any ideas? I dont want to use a torch because of the rubber boots on the old ball joint and a fire hazard/possible damage to the wheel speed sensor which is really close.

Thanks!

 

I think people used a pickle fork (ground down flatter if I recall). Can you take pics of the issue?

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Easy with a ball joint puller and impact wrench.

 

The large hex head bolt right? The thing should just come out. Keep adjusting the angle slightly. Spinning it slowly with an impact while tapping the thread end with a hammer doesn't get it to move out?

 

Thanks all, I finally figured it out. I took it to the shop and they did it!

 

That’s the one. It most definitely should just come out. All of the other three just slid right out, the lower one on the other side fell right out after I threaded it. I could not get this last one out for the life of me.

 

Here is a picture of the lower ball joint. Where the red arrow is, there is a bolt that threads through there, threw a hole in the ball joint, and then into the stub axle. There’s no way to access the top of the bolt. And a spreader won’t work because you will just be spreading the ball joint against the stub axel and A arm. The biggest concern is the threads in the top of the stud axle. If you mess them up, you are in for a bad time. That concerns me enough that I just took it somewhere and had them figure it out. Frustrating to get through all of that work, and get stuck on the last one! Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Did they say what they used?

 

I haven’t picked it up yet, but I will definitely ask. I will let you know.