I spent a couple hours trying this blacksmith method, didn’t budge. Ended up removing the bracket holding the brakes, removed rotor and slid out the axel, turn steering wheel for the best position to hit from above with hammer. About 5 hits it was out. Definitely try the hammer chisel method first, but if you get frustrated you can always hit it out from above. Good luck when it’s time to do the rear ball joints, it’s worse imo.
thanks for making this video. having removed one a year ago I am NOT looking forward to doing another one this weekend. good tips in this! thanks again!
This is definitely a more real world vid then the one I just watched in a shop on a lift definitely in the south with no salt/rust. Lots of good methods in the comments as well.
I just did mine on my 2002 X4 with just under 92,000 miles on it. The driver side was siezed up bad. After pounding for over an hour, using a cold chisel and an old USA made flat blad screw driver, I took a rest. Hit with lots of PB Blaster, and went to bed. The next morning, I pounded away some more. Then, I took the brake rotor off, so that I could access the outer side of the balljoint. The stupid brake dust shield wont fully come off, but I was able to rotate it out of the way, so I could chisel away at the other side. I finally got some minor seperation on both sides. I loosely bolted up the control arm, then beat on the arm, and balljoint finally came out. For the passenger side, I ordered the balljoint removal tool on ebay.
Wait everything before this was the easy part????? OH MY GOD! bro I spent like 2 days hammering, pickle forking and using a separator trying to get the ball joint to separate from the tension strut. Ended up warping my gear wrench bj separator to the right from bottoming out the bolt before it finally exploded open. Then the E12 bolts head snapped off instead of coming loose. I should have used heat but too late. I had to drill it out as extractors didn't work. I ended up asking a few engineers on reddit is its okay to switch to a bolt and nut instead of the replacement bolt since the insert threads are fucked now. So now like a week later I hadn't started trying to remove the ball joint from the steering knuckle yet... I thought that was gonna be the easy part....
These are tips I would like to share. Two ways you can easily remove the balljoint. 1. Separate Hubs and front axels for access and hammer the back side of the ball joint. or 2. With the old thrust arm still attached to the balljoint….. hammer the crap out of your old thrust arm (if you are replacing it, too) to back out the ball joint pressed into the hub. or 3. If luck is on your side and it it not a rusted mess, you can separate the thrust arm from the balljoint. Remove two bolts. Now with a punch or equivalent and a hammer you need to alternate hits on the side of the balljoint flanges. Hit clockwise and counterclockwise keep that up until you break it loose. Should come out in piece.
It is very difficult to get the ball joints out. I probably had to hit that ball joint front the top at least 2000 times before it came out. This was not easy on my bmw 335ix. I wish I had a specially made ball joint remover for bmw, but I couldn’t find it on Amazon.
You are doing it wrong, the way to do it is remove the thrust arm completely, remove ball joint x2 bolts European models use t50 pattern not sure American models , take the thrust arm and attach it to the ball joint and tighten the nut by hand , get a heavy hammer and hit the thrust arm, that will bring the ball join down under 1 minute , don't worry about the thrust arm you can hit it it is very strong , that's what I've done to my e53 x5 , job done , if you read this comment you will save yourself a good few hours of labour work.
Trent Chupp I live in UK 🇬🇧 and rust is a big issue here, my car is 13 years old and the ball joints were rusted . On this video the ball joints don’t look to bad , anyway I’m good with my hands I guess no anyone is up to the task .
www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1156333&page=3 This thread talks about using a heat shield over axle boot and heating the ball joint housing. I tried that, it works and gets the ball joint out quick. Also, what truthseeker suggested also is good and effective advice. It is easier than beating on the ball joint with a chisel or rod as you have more room for the sledge hammer to move. 20 or so hits after hearing and it was out. Have to be careful not to hit the tire rod. The car has been driven in Midwest USA for 10+ years now. I also tried on one side the method described in the video using a hammer and a flat head driver. It takes longer than heating and I ended up stripping very partially one of the torx screw grooves in the hub. An easy fix for that btw is putting some aluminium foil and then putting in the screw. It grabbed right away and I was able to torque it then. Cheers!
The best way that I see is easier is remove the entire wheel hub then pop the joint out with a sledgehammer. 123 it’s over. These ball joints are to difficult to remove on the ground. Good luck I just did mine fast
every video i see has these male ended bolts. Mine are female and i just cant imagine being able to get them out without stripping them! For reference mine have about a inch of rust built up around all edges! haha
ive been 2 daqys trying to get it out. finally the ball came out, now im trying to get the chase out. and i will guarantee that this is the last time i work on this piece of shit. the purpose of a knot is not only to secure something, but to be able to unsecure it with ease. the engineers at bmw should unstrap their sneakers and try laces then maybe their little brains may tell their little hands to let go of their little dinks and design something worth while.
How did you ever get it? Mines up on jack stands I’ve been cutting and grinding for a couple days now. The ball just fell out and chase still stuck. I did the one side fine… this fucker won’t move
Are you suggesting that the ball joints be held in entirely with the two bolts? That's not a good plan. The ball joint would move around, working the bolts loose. The only thing I would've done if I were them is to make the flange a bit thicker, and put two threaded holes in them so two bolts can be run into them to push the ball joint out when needed. This modification would've cost them a few extra pennies in manufacturing, which is why they don't do such things....even on an expensive car like a BMW.
I'm just going to blast mine out with an air hammer. The CV shafts look easy enough to remove, and I'll do the hub bearings and service the axle while I'm at it.
I spent a couple hours trying this blacksmith method, didn’t budge. Ended up removing the bracket holding the brakes, removed rotor and slid out the axel, turn steering wheel for the best position to hit from above with hammer. About 5 hits it was out. Definitely try the hammer chisel method first, but if you get frustrated you can always hit it out from above. Good luck when it’s time to do the rear ball joints, it’s worse imo.
thanks for making this video. having removed one a year ago I am NOT looking forward to doing another one this weekend. good tips in this! thanks again!
Of course! Best of luck!!
trentcdrums to
This is definitely a more real world vid then the one I just watched in a shop on a lift definitely in the south with no salt/rust. Lots of good methods in the comments as well.
I just did mine on my 2002 X4 with just under 92,000 miles on it. The driver side was siezed up bad. After pounding for over an hour, using a cold chisel and an old USA made flat blad screw driver, I took a rest. Hit with lots of PB Blaster, and went to bed. The next morning, I pounded away some more. Then, I took the brake rotor off, so that I could access the outer side of the balljoint. The stupid brake dust shield wont fully come off, but I was able to rotate it out of the way, so I could chisel away at the other side. I finally got some minor seperation on both sides. I loosely bolted up the control arm, then beat on the arm, and balljoint finally came out. For the passenger side, I ordered the balljoint removal tool on ebay.
Wait everything before this was the easy part????? OH MY GOD! bro I spent like 2 days hammering, pickle forking and using a separator trying to get the ball joint to separate from the tension strut. Ended up warping my gear wrench bj separator to the right from bottoming out the bolt before it finally exploded open. Then the E12 bolts head snapped off instead of coming loose. I should have used heat but too late. I had to drill it out as extractors didn't work. I ended up asking a few engineers on reddit is its okay to switch to a bolt and nut instead of the replacement bolt since the insert threads are fucked now. So now like a week later I hadn't started trying to remove the ball joint from the steering knuckle yet... I thought that was gonna be the easy part....
I feel your pain bro
These are tips I would like to share.
Two ways you can easily remove the balljoint.
1. Separate Hubs and front axels for access and hammer the back side of the ball joint.
or
2. With the old thrust arm still attached to the balljoint….. hammer the crap out of your old thrust arm (if you are replacing it, too) to back out the ball joint pressed into the hub.
or
3. If luck is on your side and it it not a rusted mess, you can separate the thrust arm from the balljoint. Remove two bolts. Now with a punch or equivalent and a hammer you need to alternate hits on the side of the balljoint flanges. Hit clockwise and counterclockwise keep that up until you break it loose. Should come out in piece.
Just what I needed to finish the job, Thanks!
Glad it helped!
Thanks so much for this video which solved my problem. The control arm was stuck to the ball joint, so I couldn't use the spacer method.
It is very difficult to get the ball joints out. I probably had to hit that ball joint front the top at least 2000 times before it came out. This was not easy on my bmw 335ix. I wish I had a specially made ball joint remover for bmw, but I couldn’t find it on Amazon.
Thanks for the video will be doing these very soon thanks Kevin from the UK
Bro your a lifesaver thank you 💯
You are doing it wrong, the way to do it is remove the thrust arm completely, remove ball joint x2 bolts European models use t50 pattern not sure American models , take the thrust arm and attach it to the ball joint and tighten the nut by hand , get a heavy hammer and hit the thrust arm, that will bring the ball join down under 1 minute , don't worry about the thrust arm you can hit it it is very strong , that's what I've done to my e53 x5 , job done , if you read this comment you will save yourself a good few hours of labour work.
Not in environments where salt is producing rust and seizing..
Trent Chupp I live in UK 🇬🇧 and rust is a big issue here, my car is 13 years old and the ball joints were rusted . On this video the ball joints don’t look to bad , anyway I’m good with my hands I guess no anyone is up to the task .
@@MrBledi25 Bad enough to beat the smack out of them for a few hours to get them off...
www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1156333&page=3
This thread talks about using a heat shield over axle boot and heating the ball joint housing. I tried that, it works and gets the ball joint out quick. Also, what truthseeker suggested also is good and effective advice. It is easier than beating on the ball joint with a chisel or rod as you have more room for the sledge hammer to move. 20 or so hits after hearing and it was out. Have to be careful not to hit the tire rod. The car has been driven in Midwest USA for 10+ years now. I also tried on one side the method described in the video using a hammer and a flat head driver. It takes longer than heating and I ended up stripping very partially one of the torx screw grooves in the hub. An easy fix for that btw is putting some aluminium foil and then putting in the screw. It grabbed right away and I was able to torque it then.
Cheers!
The best way that I see is easier is remove the entire wheel hub then pop the joint out with a sledgehammer. 123 it’s over. These ball joints are to difficult to remove on the ground. Good luck I just did mine fast
I’ll try your technique. I’m struggling with this now 👎
Hope it helped bro!
every video i see has these male ended bolts. Mine are female and i just cant imagine being able to get them out without stripping them! For reference mine have about a inch of rust built up around all edges! haha
ive been 2 daqys trying to get it out. finally the ball came out, now im trying to get the chase out. and i will guarantee that this is the last time i work on this piece of shit. the purpose of a knot is not only to secure something, but to be able to unsecure it with ease. the engineers at bmw should unstrap their sneakers and try laces then maybe their little brains may tell their little hands to let go of their little dinks and design something worth while.
How did you ever get it? Mines up on jack stands I’ve been cutting and grinding for a couple days now. The ball just fell out and chase still stuck. I did the one side fine… this fucker won’t move
Are you suggesting that the ball joints be held in entirely with the two bolts? That's not a good plan. The ball joint would move around, working the bolts loose. The only thing I would've done if I were them is to make the flange a bit thicker, and put two threaded holes in them so two bolts can be run into them to push the ball joint out when needed. This modification would've cost them a few extra pennies in manufacturing, which is why they don't do such things....even on an expensive car like a BMW.
Autozone rents tools free
I'm just going to blast mine out with an air hammer. The CV shafts look easy enough to remove, and I'll do the hub bearings and service the axle while I'm at it.