Ball joint press

I would love to have all Snap On tools. If they cost what SK does, I'd have a lot of stuff by them; because realistically, what SK sells for is about what SO should cost. There is not enough metal in most tools to claim you are paying that much of a premium for a higher quality steel. With SO you are paying for a high quality tool, but also the dealer service, the "free" financing, the (generally) no hassle warranty from your dealer. The dealer and the financing cost is probably 50% of the list price. If I used my tools for a living, I would have a few more things by SO, but for general tools like sockets, impact sockets, screwdrivers, etc, SO makes zero financial sense to me. I know the SO fans will say "free replacement warranty" but you could probably buy 10 sets of Sunex impact sockets for what SO charges for their equivalent set. Same with the SO ball joint press vs buying 7? OTC or Astro. And toolboxes, forget it.
I have SO metric flare nut wrenches, PH3050 air hammer, die grinder, 3" cutoff tool. I think that's it. Oh, and a few inch combo wrenches from my dad.

 

I too am a big SK fan, particularly their wrenches. I compared SK, snapon, and Matco wrenches. Snapon and Matco look exactly the same except for the markings. SK are much thicker. I put a Snapon wrench on a 15/16 nut, pulled really hard, I could see the wrench flex and fail to loosen it. Put the SK on, pulled hard and it loosened. So my thought is because it’s thicker, it doesn’t flex as much putting all the power to the fastener.

Matco doesn’t warranty everything like they used to. Craftsman only warranties what “they” call a hand tool. Snapon is never an issue to swap out a broken tool. Usually I can just send a text with part number to my Snapon guy and he’ll have a replacement soon after, very convenient.

Once I brought a broken craftsman ratchet & screw driver to sears to get them replaced. Went to the cashier with broken & new replacement tools. They said the ratchet has to be sent in for evaluation, then they’ll ship repaired or new at their discretion. That took months. A screwdriver isn’t a hand tool so there is no warranty. That type of crap is probably why sears is going under.

If I were a Snapon purist like some dudes I’d have over $100k in my box. Since I’m not, I might have $30k.

 

Hahahaha, wait till you look in a professionals tool box, I have 3 snap on sockets that are 1/4 drive impact swivel, they are $50 each, I have a 7mm, 8mm and 10mm. I use them countless times a day they are worth it. The diesel special sockets are even more, I've seen $100 sockets on the tool trucks.
Back to thread question, I've used both the snap on and the OTC ball joint press. Honestly I liked the OTC one better. I would stay very far away from harbor freight for something like this, not bashing harbor freight but I just would not trust their metal or threading with the high force, especially when I'm using my 1/2 inch impact gun on it.

 

I probably have over 10k in snapon/matco tools. but ive never seen a single socket go for 40-50 bucks on the snap on truck. that's why I asked lol.

 

If you have a full set of Snapon sockets, and lose one, when it’s time to replace it, you’ll see.

 

I've warranty exchanged multiple Craftsman screwdrivers at my local Sears- which no longer exists. I guess I drove it out of business I buy Wiha drivers now and they last forever.

I don't have any newer SK wrenches, but the US made Williams combo wrenches are the beefiest I've seen. I have some old SO wrenches and the beams are thin and can be painful to use.

Ok, back to the topic of ball joint presses, but maybe that has been settled.

 

Not sure if you've used one of these, but they are great.



I used this picture, since it shows one being used. You just slide it into place. Give it a few light taps with a hammer if required to seat it. It is the easiest ball joint tool I've ever used.

 

OP wants a press for installing/removing pressed in ball joints from the control arm. The above is for removing the tapered stud from the knuckle.

I have a couple of pullers like the above, and also pickle forks. The best method I've found for breaking ball joint and tie rod end tapered studs loose is an air chisel with a pointed bit. Remove the nut from the BJ or TR, thread it on backwards to protect the stud, put the tapered bit in the machining center/divot in the end of the stud (if it exists) and hammer away. It pops it out in a few seconds. You can also use a small cylindrical hammer bit for this but mind the threads.

 

Does this kit come with the adapters for a 2006 Pre-reunner?

 

Do you think the OEMTOOLS 25104 master set (

$146 OEMTOOLS 25104 21 Piece Master Ball Joint Press Kit, Installs And Removes Ball Joints, U Joints, And Anchor Pins, Designed For 2WD And 4WD Vehicles

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TMTCJN2/ ) is comparable in flexibility for working w/ Tacomas, 4runners, Tundras, etc.? What about quality? The OEMTOOLS version also has a forged C-clamp & generally OEMTOOLS seems to make decent stuff.

The OEMTOOLS 25104 set is $145, vs. $222 for the Powerbuilt master set.

 

If you make your living working on cars and trucks, go with the better quality tool. Which in most cases means more money. If you are only going to use it a couple times, you can get the Harbour Freight for about $45 -50. And the master adapter kit for about the same.

 

I don't make my living as a mechanic.. I do respect & appreciate quality tools, and usually buy at least upper-middle-tier brands. But it's not always the case that higher $$ = higher quality. Now and then you see comparable-quality tools of one brand and another, with one of them being priced far too high "because reasons."

 

I don’t think you can really go wrong with either. I’ve got plenty of OEM tools brand stuff and have been happy with them. The main thing you would want to check is the cup sizes are similar offerings. The cheaper kits don’t come with as many cups or adapters and if you don’t have the right one for the task the kit isn’t doing you any good. I can’t say the oem tools has the same size but I can say for sure the powerbuilt one had the right size cups to do the LCA bushings.

I always just rent those kits for free and return them anyhow so I’ve never seen the need to purchase them. Anytime I need them it’s usually not an emergency and generally known ahead of time you’ll be needing to replace.

 

Thanks, appreciate your opinion on OEMTOOLS.

I tried to do a cross-comparison of all the sizes of adaptors listed for the 2 kits but my brain gave up, so I just ordered the Powerbuilt master set instead. Not worth a $70 savings to have the truck all taken apart and then find out that the adaptor(s) I have are 2mm too small or too large.

 

NB: I am a DIY-guy, not a mechanic.

Update -- I ordered both of these sets from Amazon in order to do a direct, hands-on comparison, because the price difference was so large:

OEMTools™ #25104 21-piece Master Ball Joint Press Kit, ~$85
Powerbuilt™#648617 Ball and U Joint Service Set, 23 Piece Tool Kit, ~$215

TL;DR: If you're a DIY-guy doing ball/U-joints maybe once or twice a year, the OEMTools version is fine. If you're a mechanic doing 10s to 100s of ball/U-joints a year, the Powerbuilt version looks like it will hold up better due to higher surface hardness & slightly denser metals of the parts.

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These two kits appear to be functionally identical in the type, number, and sizes of various install/remove adapter tubes, and therefore they should allow you to do all the same operations on the same variety of makes/models of vehicle. The only difference is that the Powerbuilt™ version includes 2 large impact sockets. Adjusting for the $45 cost (for both) of the impact sockets, the Powerbuilt set is still $170 vs. the $85 OEMtools version.

There were occasional 1/16" nominal diameter differences on some of the parts but I would think that these are "within the range of acceptable tolerances" in order to get the equivalent functionality.

Overall, the Powerbuilt parts averaged about 4% to as much as 15% heavier for identical-sized parts. Also, the Powerbuilt parts had a notably higher surface hardness. (In the photo below w/ the scratch awl, Powerbuilt is on the left, OEMtools on the right. I used maximum possible hand/arm strength to scrape with the awl point.) Whether this is due to heat treatment or harder base metal or both I can't guess. The threads on C-clamp press shaft looked identical & calipered out at "same size" to within reasonable tolerance. (Powerbuilt thread OD measured 1.10", OEMTools thread OD measured 1.08".)

I did not weigh the 2 C-clamps as they exceed the range of my digital kitchen scale. Interestingly, to the eye the OEMtools version looked marginally "beefier." Both rang with exactly the same tone when struck. Scratch-awl to the inside of the smooth-ground (non-threaded) showed about the same subjective level of surface hardness.

Powerbuilt storage case is larger with higher-quality latches and includes a multi-page laminated instruction card with photo illustrations. Interestingly the Powerbuilt case does not use as much nesting of the parts, making it somewhat bigger than the OEMtools case. Maybe that helps the pro mechanic by making it quicker & simpler to find & use a specific part without pulling out & possibly losing other parts, but it also takes up quite a bit more shelf storage space. OEMtools case latches arrived broken due to shipping damage. If they hadn't been broken they would probably be just adequate to their task.

Amazon reviews on both sets are uniformly high, in the 4.5-stars range, with thousands of reviews for each product. Since I am a DIY guy who will use the set maybe once a year, I'm satisfied if it has the number, type, and size of parts needed to get the job done, not whether it's going to last 500 or 1000 uses. So I returned the Powerbuilt™ set to Amazon for a refund.

Photos follow: