99 Tahoe 4WD Ball Joints

[mikemccloskey]

Hey all! Changing the ball joints on my 99 4wd Tahoe. Trying to remove the lower ball joint and it is not coming. I have a C-Clamp press and am using a four foot chester/breaker bar, but it is not moving - only able to turn it about 1/2 turn. Doesn't seem like it should be this hard. Am I missing something? Is there a clip on the bottom I am missing? I am going to try to heat it up with a torch and see what happens.
Any tricks or thoughts?
Thanks for your help.

 

[mikemccloskey]

Just figured it out. Didn't realize there was a flange at the bottom of the ball joint. C-Clamp pressing against both top and bottom(flange) of the ball joint won't make it go anywhere. Just hammered it out no problem.

 

[hshark]

with regards to this issue where did you get your lower ball joints at? When I attempted to buy them at autozone they asked if I had a forged, welded, or stamped control arm. I wasnt sure. So with that said which ones did you get?

 

[mikemccloskey]

I got mine on ebay as a set. Came with all four ball joints, tie rod ends, adjustment sleeves, idler arm and pitman arm - all for about $110.00. I have only seen the lower control arm referred to as forged or stamped. Mine was stamped. You can tell pretty clearly by looking at it or you can google a video or image of it. The difference it makes is in the diameter of the lower ball joint. One (I think for the stamped one) is slightly smaller than the other.