Issue removing stuck lbj

Bladesmith here.....once you heat about about 350, you are starting to change the properties of the steel. Once you go over about 550º, you've removed any hardening it had.

Now, most parts on the vehicle are not going to be hardened steel, in which case it won't matter much....but just saying, you start effecting heat treating long before anything glows. (that is about 900º)

Because of this, I really never use heat more than boiling, just don't want to take the risk.

 

Full disclosure, i’m neither a bladesmith, machinist, nor inspector. Trying to out run an angry volcano by driving through hot lava will definitely do damage. Driving through boiling water might do damage as well, but at least the underside of the truck will get steam cleaned.

 

I plan to do this job soon. Lots of good tips here. I read somewhere else that putting a jack stand under the stud (whilst LBJ still connected to knuckle) and lowering jack so the weight of truck pops the LBJ free can work. Some also say pickle fork. Every bit of advice I’ve read here so far has been spot on, so I’ll continue to follow the advice from you all, and am curious to hear how it works out for

 

IMO, just the weight of the truck won't do much, as it's just going to be 1500lbs at the most.....which is nothing compared to a real press. But you have to lower the truck a little, or raise the stud a little, just so when you hit the arm, it has a place to move rather than being held up by the shock.

 

If you want to try and reuse a part you've heated you can take the part to any decent machine shop and they'll have a a Rockwell or Brinell Hardness testing machine.
While most wont have one you can also find a company that does inspection work.
A lot depends where you live.
Here in Houston they're all over the place with all the oil/natural gas field work thats here.
You'll need to know what scale was used when heat treating the part but there is a conversion chart.
If I had to guess they most likely went with the Brinell scale.
It's become more common over the last couple decades or so.
If it were me I'd just replace any part I got really hot.
It's just not worth the risk.
You also can have a problem with warping a part which is very difficult to detect without the proper inspection tools like a CMM machine.
And of course you'd need to know the specs of a part or have a new part to compare it to and you'd need to know the tolerances of the original part.
All and all it's best to just replace the part.
But that just me.
It would drive me crazy not knowing if I were using a comprised part.
Sometimes a little knowledge is a bad thing.
And of course being anal about stuff like this doesn't help either.

 

Okay, extracting tool, a steal bar and hammer. Smacking it on both sides of LCA broke it free!
Thank you all for your help.

 

It's all about the "shock factor"! Our oldest teen would definitely confirm this.

Good job breaking it free, it's all a breeze from here on out.

 

Yep it was a quick finish. Thanks again, it did the trick.

I think they were pretty shot, glad they’re off the truck (I removed the boot).

 

You know I was only kidding about using a digging bar to pry it apart, but hey, whatever works. I guess whacking it downward with the bar would also work as well.

 

Saw this thread a few days late but the OTC 7503 tool will work perfectly on the first try. No hammering/whacking needed.

Or the similar looking one in the Harbor Freight Maddox front end service kit.

Wasn't able to find that tool at either Autozone or O'Reily in their tool rental kits. You've gotta buy it.

The same tool work on the upper ball joint (to remove it) if you cut the stud off with an angle grinder first. The steering knuckle has to be removed though because it wont fit in the wheel well.

To press a new upper ball joint in, you'll most likely need a shop press. The HF 12 ton one works.

 

This is not a claim one can make in good faith*. There are so many variables involved. We've had two people in the last 4-6 weeks who've had a breeze of a time on one side, then got to the other, and ... no dice.

I've fought my fare share of similar stud-centric joints, idler arms, pitman arms, LBJ, UBJ. The sad truth is, sometimes you just get an absolute F'n beast that's chemically or physically bonded to its hole. It happens. More often with mixed metals, but good quality iron/steel does it too.

 

I noticed the first picture showed a hammer, but the second picture showed a SLEDGE hammer! There's a big difference. When you are working on a project like this, you need a sledge hammer. Doesn't surprise me itworked that time!