1998 100 Series Front Left Axle Removal - Cannot Get Spindle Off! (1 Viewer)

[squab]

I have 1998 LC that I am ultimately trying to replace the AC compressor on. I evacuated the refrigerant and managed to get all three bolts out. The thing would not budge. Finally I found in the factory manual that the wheel, hub, spindle and axle have to be removed to get the compressor out. Found a good YouTube video for that, but I cannot get the spindle off!

I have removed the nuts from the upper and lower ball joints and jacked the thing up. That allowed the spindle to drop quite a bit, but I still need it to drop about another 1/4 inch to remove it from the lower ball joint. It is as if there is some sort of rubber gasket in the upper hole that is preventing the bolt from the upper ball joint from moving at all. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[saucebox]

There's a flat spot on top of the spindle. Go to town on that with a BFH, shouldn't take too many hits and the ball joint will pop loose.

Leave the castle nut on the ball joint itself so that when it pops, it doesn't rip your threads. And don't hit the ball joint with the hammer—just the flat spot on the spindle.

The lower one is much more of a pain—any auto parts store should rent/loan a ball joint press kit. No easy hammer options, I'm afraid.

 

[squab]

There's a flat spot on top of the spindle. Go to town on that with a BFH, shouldn't take too many hits and the ball joint will pop loose.

Leave the castle nut on the ball joint itself so that when it pops, it doesn't rip your threads. And don't hit the ball joint with the hammer—just the flat spot on the spindle.

The lower one is much more of a pain—any auto parts store should rent/loan a ball joint press kit. No easy hammer options, I'm afraid.

Thanks much! I'll give it try with the press kit.

 

[EricUT]

Plus 1 on the BFH, it'll take a harder hit than feels right the first time you do it

 

[vman07]

get one of these, 20 bucks, I just used it to break upper ball joint free from spindle...

 

[gregnash]

Plus 2 for the BFH and going to town on the flat spot. This is what I had to do. It is solid cast iron, so don't be gentle. At one point I finally got up and took my 10lbs sledge with both hands and gave it a good few whacks and sure enough she popped loose.