Been trying to get my upper A arm to come up so I can get the spindle off. Doesn’t seem to budge. Been swinging with a rubber mallet and tried pulling it. The spring is under compression by the lower A arm. Any advice? Also my spindle is tilted to the left, is this normal? Any help Is appreciated.

 

Ya try letting the jack down an inch.

 

A rubber mallet will do nothing.
You need to hit the spindle HARD with a heavy steel hammer.
Better yet, use a large pickle fork or one of those OTC ball joint tools.

 

If the OP didnt beat it with a sledge someone did.

 

never noticed that, not sure how old this spindle is.

 

I'd re-install the castle nuts (loosely w/ a large gap to the spindle) before going any further to prevent something (spring) from exploding when it finally gives loose. Get the lower ball joint loose first, then you can jack up the LCA and remove the castle nut, then lower the jack to safely release the spring pressure until the LCA is as low as it'll go. Then get the upper ball joint lose and the spindle will drop free, but not on your toes until it's castle nut is removed. Use a pickle fork or an air hammer w/ a pickle fork bit (my tool of choice) to separate the ball joints from the spindle.

The leftward tilt of your spindle appears to be the backwards (negative??) caster that these cars were originally spec'd to have when aligned. Changing this to the opposite tilt results in a big improvement in handling, but the UCA may not have enough adjustment to achieve that w/o a stack of shims. I'm planning a similar swap soon and will be installing modern tubular UCAs and LCAs which are designed to provide more caster adjustment for this reason.

 

yeah pretty soon I will be swapping from the factory style control arms to tubular control arms. I just don’t know what brand to go with, and I don’t know anything about the alignment specs that would have to be changed. I heard on a different forum about some poor fellow who was merging on the interstate and these cheap tubular arms weren’t any good. LCA welds snapped on him. Almost got him killed.

 

The upper and lower ball joints have tears in them. And the out tie rod will not let go of my steering arm. What do I do?

 

Start by getting the right tools, not the BFH. The lowest cost way to separate these parts is a pickle fork.

 

^^ +1

I'm going w/ UMI, they are about the only ones I can find that offer taller upper and lower ball joints pre-installed to correct the roll-center using factory spindles. They have a pretty good reputation. I've heard many horror stories about the imported Ebay arms, so stay away.

Torn rubber boots are the innocent bystanders of ball joint removal. That's why its always a good idea to install new ball joints once you get it apart to this point. Never trust a ball joint that's been removed using a pickle fork.

For the tie-rod, sounds like a ball joint removal press is needed. Sometimes applying pressure with the tool and then heat from a torch then smacking with a small sledge hammer does the trick. I've had pretty good luck w/ the pickle fork method though. If you are swapping spindles for the disk brake conversion anyway, you might just pull the spindle, tie-rod and control arms out as one big mess and toss them in the scrap (may have to start with unbolting the upper arm from the frame, then removing the lower arm frame bolts - be sure the spring is relieved of its tension first though).

 

This tool works exceptionally well for separating tie rod ends. It’s inexpensive and also most auto parts stores have a rental program if you don’t want to buy one.

 

Take 2 hammers and hit the joint hard at the same time on opposite sides, sometimes numerous times, especially if you have it under pressure with a fork or pressing tool, the hammer trick usually works by itself

 

okay, I already have the engine out because of a bad oil pump, so getting to the bolts should be a walk in the park. For realignment, where do I find the right specs? I know these tubular control arms are going to need realignment as well as everything else. How do I properly relieve the spring tension without ending up on 5 o clock news?

 

There are probably various alignment specs to use, I'd check the sites that cater to resto-modded A-body cars. A member on here has a resto-modded 442 that he tracks (can't remember his username), he's probably got his specs in a thread he's posted.

Some folks like spring compressors to control the spring on release, but the spring compressors I have don't fit. So the method I use is to have the castle nuts loose on both upper & lower ball joints (before breaking them free from the A-arms). With the car supported on the frame, the suspension drops until the UCA bump-stop is supporting the suspension. Pickle-fork that lower ball joint loose from the spindle first so that the castle nut catches it. Once it pops, jack up the LCA (transferring the weight of the suspension to the jack......don't lift the car off your jack-stands) and remove the castle nut on the lower ball joint. Slowly release the jack until the LCA drops and releases the spring (it would help if the LCA frame bolts are loosened first....those rubber bushings are going to resist letting the LCA drop fully). If the spring doesn't fall free, a little tugging on it should pop-it out from between the frame and LCA (pushing the LCA down as low as it can go helps here). Once the spring is out, pickle-fork the upper ball joint from the spindle and you are home free.

 

Isn't that a pitman arm puller? A tool made for a specific job that cannot be possibly done without it, for sure. Mine's paid for itself many times over. But yeah, a tie-rod specific tool looks very similar.

 

i only have the drum to disc conversion kit, I don’t have the tubulars or the new springs. For now I just threw everything back together until I can get my hands on new suspension components. In the mean time if you don’t mind me asking, what site do you recommend for the tubulars, tie rods, and springs?

 

This is, hands down, the best tool to pop ball joints loose.
The one pictured is the factory tool # J-8806, but OTC makes a similar tool.
This is the tool shown in the Oldsmobile Shop Manual.
It will not damage the ball joints, and they can be re-used if necessary.

 

I used the method described by Lady72NRob71 in this post: https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...83/#post287934 except I also used the spring compressor to control the spring. Worked like a charm, no muss no fuss.

 

should I get this $1300 kit off of summit or do I have the wrong link? There’s a million of these listings so bare with me. I’m look for the UMI kit with the long preinstalled ball joints like you mentioned.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/u...saAlFwEALw_wcB

it says it won’t fit a 1966 olds cutlass (my setup) for the front suspension. I’m sure it’s just an error but will it? I know most early a bodies have a lot of interchangeable parts.

 

Just so you know… pickle forks are fine if you are looking to destroy the joint and dust boot, never to be reused again. If you are taking it apart to say replace control arm bushings or something like that. You hit the side of the knuckle where the ball joint is pinched with a good sized hammer. While doing this the castle nuts need to be backed off where there is around 1/8” inch of gap between the A arm and the spindle while the spring tension is still on the ball joint. You hit the knuckle next to the ball joint and when the 1/8” gap disappears it is released. That is the way the pros do it. I have worked at car dealers as a professional line technician for decades and that is the way it is done. Pickle forks are for rookies.

 

I’ll be replacing the outer tie rod and control arms anyway so it’s not to big of a deal

 

I always loosen the castle nuts then hold my 10 lb. hammer against one side of the joint and smack the other side with my 3 lb. hammer. Usually pops loose after 2nd or 3rd hit. But I do still have my dad's old pickle fork in reserve...

An easy way to keep the spring from releasing all of its built-up agression on you is to leave the shock in place until it is loose or wrap a ratchet strap through the uca, the spring, and lca several times.