Upper Ball Joint Castle Butt

Hey Folks,

I've exhausted my efforts on removing my driver side upper ball joint castle nut, the one that sits highest at the upper control arm. Dang thing has been painted over black when I got it.

I've given the nut PB blaster, got the nut and bolt red hot with my oxy-acetylene torch + love taps, and my 1/2" Milwaukee Torque wrench is no bueno. There's no 19mm bolt extractors besides ordering from #@^$@ Amazon.

Thoughts on what I can do next before grabbing some bolt extractors? My UBJ is in good shape, I'd like to salvage the darn bolt if possible as I think this is a part of the whole UBJ set. May be a PITA to burn off just the nutt. Cheers - EP

 

Righty tighty lefty loosey???




looks like you’ve kinda hit the gamut of nut bustin.

 

Time to start taking a hacksaw and dremel to the nut to cut JUST enough to tap the remains off with a flatblade screwdriver or chisel and leave the UBJ threads alone. Then replace castle nut and new cotter pin.

 

The question might be what are you replacing that you need to save that bolt?

 

sledge + chisel and wack the crown on the right side to spin it off? Or weld a beater wrench onto it and use a cheater bar, maybe even pump pliers with a cheater bar

 

Nut splitter?

But honestly, I would just cut the ball joint stud below the arm with a cut off wheel and replace the ball joint. Looks like it's been leaking grease at the very least.

 

Why stop there, can't be tight if it's a liquid!

On a slightly less sarcastic note, that looks an awful lot like a nut that someone's rounded off with a wrong-size/too loose whatever way socket, moreso than rusted that hard in place. I guess I could be wrong, though... but looks to me like some big ol' Knipex Cobras or a pipe wrench could finish it off? Or, y'know, whatever destructive removal method you need, it's just a ball joint, not like it can't be replaced.

 

Cut the nut off. Replace the ball joint. Don't risk it. The thing is holding the wheel to the truck.

Even once you cut the nut off, you'll have to press the stud outta the arm.

 

Have you tried turning it into a liquid?

 

You can try a hammer and flat punch to try and drift it out.

 

Cut it completely off and replace the ball joint.

 

Oh man you guys are on point. Thanks for the suggestions!

I'm going to just "liquidate" this castle nut via torch. All the stripping marks on this butt nut in my above pic were by me and I had the right socket size on it but after 2hr PB moment, impact, heat, hammer, impact, I decided to give it some home grown 24" Texas breaker bar lol. I don't have a stick/mig welder dang!

I'm looking online at AAP and Napa nearby and they have a non-oem upper ball joint assembly that comes in stock with the castle for 90 bucks. No castle nut by itself so biting the bullet.

Thanks y'all
EP

 

I dont understand.....why cant you just grind a flat on two sides....
to get an 18" cresent on it.....
IF ball is too loose and spins....needs to be replaced anyways...

 

And we dont even know why he wants to take the nut off in the first place.

 

And good point.....if you're not gonna replace the ball joint.....
why the heck do you want to take it off in first place.....

You know you get a new bolt on the new ball joint?........

On a 5 lug.....its 4 bolts.....and its in and out....
On yours a 6 lug.....has to be pressed....or buy the whole upper arm assembly....

 

555 SB3561, is like 1/2ish the price, and probably the only one you'll find that doesn't say "made in China" on the box.