Ball joint press

Looking to purchase a ball joint press. Anyone have any recommendations? I don’t like renting from the auto part store. I prefer to have my own. Anybody bought the kit from Amazon? Thanks

 

this is the one you want

$183 Powerbuilt Ball and U Joint Service Set, 23 Piece Tool Kit, Remove and Install Ball Joints, Receiving Tube, Adapters, Sockets - 648617

https://www.amazon.com/Alltrade-648617-Master-U-Joint-Service/dp/B0028QGT86

 

Lol damn hoping it was the $45 kit.

 

You can get a cheaper one but from what I’ve found you’ll need the one size cup that kit doesn’t include. I’ve used this kit for ball joints, LCA bushing replacements, ujoints to name a few. It’s very versatile.

 

That’s the info I need. Wasn’t too sure if the cup is the right size.

 

You need a master kit from Harbor freight and the ball joint press you can get them both for $115

 

the other option is you can buy this kit from one of the auto stores that rent them for pretty cheap. They just go out and get a new set afterwards and it works out for both parties. I did this with a fan clutch removal tool.

 

whatever you do buy quality. you will bend and or strip the threads out on the cheapo's pretty fast. otc is one of the best out there

 

I borrowed a friends HF set to do the BJ's on my old '99 Ranger 4x4. I bent the c-clamp so I replaced it for him. I took the one I now owned and bent it back into usable shape with my 12T shop press. Once they fail like that the likelihood of it happening again sooner are high. I"ll see if it will get the job done on my Tacoma.

 

That's what I did. Have it twice to replace the BJ's and u-joints. One time, I could feel the tool straining as the BJ did not want to budge - used an air hammer to strike the BJ from the top and it inched out. A couple whacks with a 5-lb hammer might have got the same results.

 

I’ve become convinced if you want a quality tool that isn’t going to be broken within the first 3 times using it, your stuck with a high end supplier like snap on, matco, mac. Even with those, you often end up with cheap Chinese garbage. I rarely have issues with anything from snap on. My $2700 snapon box has had problems with slides going bad, locks breaking, and 2 defective drawers all of which were replaced free of charge.

OTC is a company that used to make top quality tools. I read of the issues, I don’t remember exactly what it is. Something like they were bought out and no longer sell USA made products.

Once I had a ($40 snap on) 1/4 drive 10mm socket I was fiddling with while waiting at a scrap metal place, the guy asked what it was, I showed him, he put a machine to it which analyzes metal, he said it’s very high quality steel. So I brought him some other sockets. Matco, sk, craftsman. In that order higher to lower price, in that order higher to lower quality steel.

Quite often when you break a tool, it isn’t just a broken tool. Broken fingers, damaged parts.

 

I have a newer OTC BJ press. Although the majority of OTC stuff is now made in Taiwan, the BJ press is forged in the US and a quality unit. The Astro unit is very well regarded and high quality as well. I had an older HF and it was a POS and I trashed it. It had a cast c-clamp with the crappiest thread machining known to man- it had like half a mm of slop side to side right out of the box.

 

but can this be used with an impact?

 

Sorry what. you paid 40 bucks for one socket?

 

Thanks! Ill be adding that one to my list of tools

 

Ya, snapon stuff is nice but stupidly expensive.

 

Key word there is stupid ​

 

I regularly contribute tools to my pop's 30+ year old Marco/snap on set at the shop (few hundred for the recent snap on 3/8" locking ratchet). Just the tool chests alone could purchase a small home lol. You really get what you pay for.

Its interesting to hear about the history of each of the tools from my father. It is quite the feeling to know that some of these tools are so old that my dad was the same age as I when he first used it.

 

A few of the guys I work with have only snapon tools in their box, crazy. I’m sure it’s difficult for a backyard mechanic to shell out that kind of money. If I break a cheap tool, I may have to clock out until I replace it. So certain items, I did shell out for a good one.

 

sure, that's all I use on it.

edit- whatever you buy, lubricate the screw with a high content moly grease. I use the below, which is also great for the driveshaft splines in the slip joint. It's not cheap but a can should last you the rest of your life

$54 Loctite 234227 LOC51048 Moly Paste Anti-Seize Compound, 8 oz.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001HWBSJW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1