I love my Big Friendly Hammer

Thanks to PA for adding something very important.....do not hit the ball joint, you are going for the "knuckle". Some may know this (adding it for any future searches done by anyone), the "stuck" part of this equation is the taper stud of the ball joint going into the knuckle, you are hitting the side of the knuckle to break loose the ball joint stud from the knuckle...sometimes a spray of you favorite lube (WD40, BP Blaster, ect) helps.

 

I think for strong guys this is a great idea. For those of us more physically challenged, it can be difficult. I've pounded on knuckle and given up to use my ball joint lifter. Good pressure w/ ball joint lifter and good rap w/ hammer will do the job for sure.

good luck

 

I thank you all for your comments and advise, unfortunately I did not get to read this before finally pulling all of this together. The only joints giving me problems were on the lower control arms. Since I had little to no option at the time to rent or borrow particular tools I used a three jaw puller on the trailing and upper arms. For the lower... I used a dremel tool to cut a more suited seat for the two jaw puller on the nubs at the end of the arm. After putting what I felt was more pressure that necessary on the arm I used a concrete form pin and a "BFH" to smack it loose. This worked rather well, I don't know why these were so darn tight but I'm guessing they were over tightened from my last fight with my brake rotors. I made sure not to excessively tighten them this time around. I had one bolt in each hub that did not want to let go.... What did I do? I cut the heads of the bolts off with a dremel. lol. That tool really came in handy for the this operation. Now thankfully with all of your help my car is riding much smoother... Unfortunately I now believe I need to replace my rear bearings as well...