How the hell do I get the upper and lower bolts out to replace my spindles. 72 Cutlass. I tried everything I know before this post. I have new spindles and new Willwood Dynalite complete kit can't get old spindle bolts out, got the 4 top grease fitting bolts out main bolt won't budge. Thx

 

Grease fitting bolts? Are you referring to the four bolts holding the upper ball joint to the control arm?

Speaking of ball joints, those are what hold the spindle in. You need to remove the castle nuts then using your method of choice separate the ball joints from the spindle.

 

Have you secured or removed your coil springs?

Are these the bolts that hold the steering arm to the spindle, or the ball joint nuts?

 

Can you add a picture to help us see what your dealing with?

 

If you are talking about the upper and lower ball joints, they are locking tapers. You need a pickle fork or ball joint separator. Your question makes me worry that you are not fully aware of what this job entails - once you loosen those ball joints the front springs can come flying out and injure you if the shocks are not in place. Please take proper precautions and READ THE CHASSIS SERVICE MANUAL.

 

Thx Joe I did just that I read up on a old post I figured it out. I did know about the spring which I had a compress tool on but was still unable to get the ball joints out. I saw that video if you don't have the fork tool the whack on the side with a hammer well that didn't work. I think there's some kind of retro fit bolt in there looks nothing like the manual. Will get the pickle tool and keep you posted. Thx for looking out and pointing out the dangers I usually do a lot of reading up before this kind of work so this time I was ready for the spring. Thx again

 

The hammer trick does work. Sometimes you have to work around it a bit to find the sweet spot, and some folk find that a double hammer hit on opposite sides works best. Personally, I'd loosen the castle nuts but leave them on, remove the spring compressor, and take out some anger issues. It WILL pop when you hit that perfect spot. With having the spring compressed you've removed a helping pressure. Are you bringing a big enough hammer to the party? My personal go-to is a 2lbs ball-peen. I don't like going over 3, but anything under 2 isn't bringing enough energy to bear.

 

I like to support the car on the lower control arms if I'm not removing the springs. I use a 2.5-3# hammer with a large face, like an engineer hammer. You need a good swing, it needs to land flat, and release your grip a bit as it makes contact. 1 or 2 whacks and its apart. When you use a pickle fork, you generally destroy the rubber seals on good parts. You can use the same method on any tapered front end component.

 

Just went through this again on my 67 Delta. As always, the "hit it with a hammer" technique never works for me. Unfortunately, the design of the upper ball joints on the 67 didn't really allow my pickle fork to work, either. I used one of these on the upper, and it worked great.



Unfortunately, this tool won't fit on the lowers, but I now have a bigger problem. The ball joint stud is spinning in the spindle, so I can't even get the nut loose.

Got the LCA and spindle off the car, and I'll cut the nut off, but I fear the tapered hole in the spindle may be damaged. Of course, this is the unobtanium spindle with the hole for the speedo cable.

 

That tool works wonders where it fits. Grease the threads well, and don't try to just drive it out. Apply it, put a few turns on it for torque, then just smack the finger on the stud ... pop. I've got one, but I've only had one car where it actually fit. Luckily enough, that car had no room to swing a hammer at the knuckle.

Joe, Where that's happened to me, I dropped the weight of the car back down on the control arm (wood block under the spring) and that tightened the taper in the hole enough to get the nut off.