Hi,
I have a w211 E500 base. This is my first time doing the suspension project. I'm been spenting weeks trying to deal with the ball joint removal without success. I also broke 3 ball joint separators (I use a impact driver), but this time for the fourth separator, I use the cheater bar. However, it seems that separator reachs the limit (very tight) and I didn't dare to the turn it. I also tried pickle fork with a 4lb hammer, but I accidently damaged the thrust arm boot, which made me buy another one. Right now, I removed the thrust arm but can't remove the spring control arm becausee of the ball joint.

Does anyone have any ideas on what should I try next? I might go and buy a two puller arm. Here are the pictures below. I also put the pickle fork on the side of the brake caliber to see if that's the right approach. Thanks


Ball joint with ball joint separator


pickle fork

 

It takes a really hard hit with a hammer to get that to pop. You will need to hit it hard several times. You can add tension by adding the ball joint removal tool and screwing it down as much as possible. But you'll still need a big hammer to whack the life out of that arm where it connects to the ball joint.

 

need the correct tool in there to separate the arm.....easy peasy and no damage to the boot. You will need the correct Mercedes ball joint tool kit in order to remove and replace the joint. They are about 50 bucks on eBay.

 

soak it down with a good penetrating oil like Kroil and use a ball joint/U joint press. it looks like a big C clamp with a bunch of adapters. Cheap harbor freight ones are fine in my experience. You'll need this anyway to put the new one back in. Always lubricate the threads of any press tools. If it's still stubborn, they will always come out with heat from an acetylene torch.

 

Can always cut it off, angle grinder or reciprocating saw. With the control arm off you can probably wack the stud out with a sledge hammer.

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, is the threaded part of the ball joint stuck in the control arm,Or or you can't get the ball joint out of the hub?

 

With my comment I meant cut thru the ball joint where the pickle fork is in the photo above. Then with the control arm off you can try and get the remaining ball joint stud out.

 

I struggled with that ball joint taper earlier this year. I bought a cheap ball joint separator, and turns out there are no good and cheap separators. Ended up braking it. Took it back and got different type, which was good for the upper ball joint and tie rod end, but not for the lower. Ended up modifying slightly bigger separator:



19 normal wrench for scale. That separator barely fits and was pain to use, but got the taper out.
Next was the ball joint. Naturally I didn't have correct tooling, so I took out the knuckle, and with the BFH with a impact socket I got the ball joint out from the knuckle. Then it took some figuring the knuckle to sit level on the hydraulic press, pressing in the new ball joint was easy.
If I were to replace that ball joint again, I would get the right tools.

 

The separator tools work to put a bit of pressure on the bolt, but I've never had one complete the task by itself. As others have said, a BFH is your BF. Put some pressure on the bolt and hit it hard. Wear gloves and eye protection.
Sometimes, hitting the outside of the link that the bolt passes through will break the bond.

 

yes. Pretty much stuck in the control arm. I can't believe that I broke 4 separators .

guess I'm going to go harder on hammer and wd40. I recently bought the Orion ball joint separator kit. Hopefully I can get it off this weekend. Thank you guys for your suggestions

 

As others have stated, the separator tools are designed to apply pressure, not reverse press it out. Soak it down really well with high-quality penetrating oil and support the control arm to the ground so the weight of the hub/brake assembly helps it fall down when you're hitting it. I've had good luck using air chisels if there's enough room to get it in there.

 

Got it. Yeah, I've seen tons of videos on YouTube, and people are using the ball joint separator like mine to remove the ball joint off the control arm easily.

 

An air chisel is a good idea if your can squeeze one into the space. I've always wanted to try a demolition hammer -- it's really amazing what pulsed impact can do.
Don't neglect to try the lateral impact. Use a first BFH as a backstop and hit the opposite side with a second BFH. Sometimes this impact will break the taper's bond.

 

When you get your kit, use the one I pictured above. No need for any other tools or oils or hammers. Place it over the arm, rotate the assembly till it grabs underneath, tighten it down, done.

 

Still waiting for Orion Kit to arrive by Wednesday

 

Hey man, I'm doing the suspension this week on my E550 also. I'm learning these are heavy duty systems compared to my Honda or Fiat Spider. It's taking my tools and my energy levels to the limit. I was stuck removing the frontmost lower control arm from the ball joint. To make matters worse it's a tight location where everything connects by the hub. I finally got it off. Im working on jack stands and didnt really have room to swing a hammer properly even though I hit it with my lightweight dead blow a few times which likely did nothing. All my suspension tools are from Harbor Freight except one I'll mention in a little bit. My pittsburgh ball joint separator tool wasn't wide enough to go onto the longer threaded shaft of the ball joint so I ended up grinding the shaft it shorter just to get the tool to fit. This turned out to be unnecessary since, as I later realized, the Pittsburgh tool is adjustable to a wider jaw! I tightened it down and saw the forged steel of the tool bending to parallel and lost confidence, So I picked up a pneumatic fork for an air hammer from Harbor Freight for $12. It seemed like it was starting to work however the prongs are so long they started rattling up against the brake shield and ended up penetrating it just slightly before it could get deep enough to dislodge the ball joint, That might have loosened it, not sure but without options I came back with the separator again and tightened it down with a socket wrench past where I expected it to break, and just kept going. Id tap it with a hammer every once in a while. Eventually I paused for a break and suddenly it broke free.

I'm now wrestling with removing the ball joint itself, I have full Astro Pneumatic Goliath kit and am glad I do for this. However it is a struggle. Working at home, I overextended my lifting capacity to a level that was unsafe so had to bring it back down and attach my impact from above in the wheel well rather than below. Clearance is bad from either direction so am using a universal joint at an angle that does not maximize efficiency, After twenty minutes and plenty of times losing control of the hub assembly, I've pressed the ball joint maybe an eighth of an inch. This will be a fight, boys.

 

It is not a fight if you use the correct tools. use the Mercedes ball joint kit. If you’re having trouble getting the ball joint out with a universal kit, you will never get the ball joints back in with that same universal kit. Buy the kit for $50 on eBay and you’re talking about a 20 minute job. I just replaced all of the front suspension on my s55, and ran into many of the same issues. easy peasy…

 

To clarify, is the Mercedes tool you mentioned above able to press a new lower ball joint into the knuckle? I read your earlier post as saying it could separate the control arm from the ball joint threaded bolt. The ball joint presses I've seen, including Mercedes brand, look like a C clamp.

 

Two tools, one to separate the taper from the control arm/knuckle, depending on which control arm you're dealing with. Other tool (C-clamp style) for removing/mounting the ball joint to the knuckle.
LIke I said earlier, without correct tool for lower ball, you'll be taking the whole knuckle apart to hammer the old ball out and pressing the new one in.

 

Two tools makes more sense: a ball joint separator, and a ball joint press. The ball joint presses are all generally the same but vary in quality.

 

Exactly this, without the C-clamp its virtually impossible

For clarification, this clamp is able to press the old one out and press a new one in the knuckle

 

For possibly a few readers unfamiliar with ball joints, here's a cutaway view of the shaft taper, which is usually about 7 degrees. When pressed in and torqued to spec. it's designed not to rotate, such that all the articulation occurs in the ball and socket. And after driven maybe 100K miles over 10 years, the union between the tapered shaft and its mating knuckle becomes nearly permanent. I'm not a metallurgist, but there is a phenomenon called cold welding where two metal tightly mated surfaces form a molecular bond over time. When this occurs, separating the components becomes nearly impossible using pressure alone. That's when the BFH becomes the only solution.

 

So I was answering two different questions.
One tool is to remove the lower control arm from the steering knuckle ball joint, the one I put in the pic and should be in the Orion kit. Consider this a separator. The Clamp is for removal and replacement of the ball joint from the knuckle. Consider this a press. The Mercedes specific clamp has cup sizes that fit in the tight area of the knuckle. A rental tool will often not have that size. The Mercedes c clamp ball joint press kit is 50 bucks on eBay. The ball joint separator I pictured can be had individually, or as a kit. The tool for the other associated joints is the "scissor type" separator. So, the proper three tools will get you through without hammering, ripping boots, or needing air tools or heat, in my experience. lastly, make sure to buy quality replacement parts because many aftermarket ball joints do not press in and if you have to fight at all when using the right tools, it may be the ball joint. I just did this on my 220 and fought an aftermarket joint with near 700 ftlbs and had to have a shop press it out because we could not get it in the knuckle. After I bought the lemforder ball joint, it went right in in less than thirty seconds. Hope this helps.


You can find this for 50, but this is what you see mechanics using in the videos online. This is the Mercedes press kit.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284480697301

 

Thx for that link. For clarification, the bal joint press is not Mercedes brand, but looks to have accessories made to fit our cars specifically.

 

Any tutorials out there for going the knuckle removal route?