Archived FRIGGIN 3rd gen track bar install!!!!!!!! Need Help

[JCyrbok]

OK, I have been dealing with this 3rd gen track bar stuff for a couple of weeks. First a bolt is the wrong size, so I deal with that and then some other minor issues.



So today I start the install and for the life of me I can NOT get the ball joint end of the track bar to budge. I have hammered on it with a 3lb and a 12lb sledge, have broken a pickle fork, have tried a whole can of PB Blaster, have tried heating it up with a torch and then dousing it with water all for the last 2 hours and it has not even moved!!!!!!!!!!!!. I have even tried moving the wheels to see if that would break it loose. I have sworn like a sailor and that even didnt help, LOL.



I am to the point where the old track bar is not re-useable and I absolutely have to have my truck back by tonight. Everyone talks about how easy this is to do, but I am stuck!



I need help, like 2 hours ago, LOL. Any ideas????



J-

 

[DSteele]

Help?

I had to use an air impact hammer and when I had about give up it gave up first.

The vibrations will make it let loose when nothing else seems to work.

 

[JCyrbok]

yeah I actually tried that too, but my compressor does not have a lot of capacity, but I will try again. I am just worried about splitting the bolt stud and really being up craps creek!



Keep the ideas coming,



J-

 

[DBraunig]

are you hitting the bar itself or the frame?



Hit the frame

 

[JCyrbok]

OK I'll try hitting the frame too. I picked up a pickel fork for my air hammer too, so we will see. I had to take a break and eat some lunch.



J-

 

[rotohead]

On my 98. 5 I had to find a pickle fork that had a 15/16" wide spread to get it wedged between the frame and the bar. Standard fork wasn't wide enough and I was just hammering the fork against the tapered joint. Once I found the right pickle fork (at a pep boys here in Reno) just a few blows with a BFH did the trick.
Good luck
Chuck

 

[JCyrbok]

Ok I have tried hitting the frame and the boss from all sides I can reach, have worked at the top of the stud with a air hammer, have tried the air hammer on the acutal taper stud from the sides, have used a pickel fork that both hammered by me with a 3lb and 12lb sledge and a pickel fork on my air hammer. Both are of the correct spread dimension. I even tried running two forks opposing each other to make the gap HUGE and it didnt work. Is there a direction I should be coming from with this or any way I can get it in?



New problem that I am starting to run into is that it appears that I am starting to separate the bar from the ball joint, but the joint stud has not moved out of the boss at all since I have started.



I am at a complete and total loss here, I have never had a problem like this with ANYTHING mechanical in the past.



HELP

J-

 

[JCyrbok]

I Won!!!!!!!!!!

Well exactly 30 second after my last post, I tried the pickel fork again and it popped out like there was no problem! What the crap, if that aint the way it goes in life I surely dont know.



Thanks all for the help, crossing my fingers that every thing going in is problem free!.



Thanks again,

J-

 

[rotohead]

Well exactly 30 second after my last post, I tried the pickel fork again and it popped out like there was no problem! What the crap, if that aint the way it goes in life I surely dont know.

Thanks all for the help, crossing my fingers that every thing going in is problem free!.

Thanks again,
J-

Oh, good for you. I was just going to post to keep hammering at it with the pickle fork and BFH and heat.
It should go well for you now.
Chuck

 

[JCyrbok]

new bracket is in and torqued to spec, just had to come in and put a band aid on a knuckle ! The day is looking up!



One quick question though. On the bolt that runs through the orginal frame mount with the tapered sleeve, should there be washers between the bracket and the frame, Doesnt say in the intructions but I had aout a 1/4 in gap and the bracket slightly bent up to the frame boss.



J-

 

[rotohead]

One quick question though. On the bolt that runs through the orginal frame mount with the tapered sleeve, should there be washers between the bracket and the frame, Doesnt say in the intructions but I had aout a 1/4 in gap and the bracket slightly bent up to the frame boss.

J-

I did mine over a year ago so can't recall for sure how my fit was but I would think the there should be no gap. Does the bolt bind up or does it pull the bracket up to the frame?

 

[JCyrbok]

it pulls the bracket up to the frame. the bolt does not bind. every thing else was fine and there is no "geometric" problems with the mount for the upper end of the bar, so I think it should be OK.



Thanks again for all the help guys,



J-

 

[JCyrbok]

Thanks to everyone!! TDR Rules!!!!!!!!!

Well the bar is in and every thing went well on the install side of the day. I am glad that I did this upgrade, along with the DSS my truck drives better than it did when it left the dealership lot when I bought it new (or atleast better than I remember).



Thanks to all that helped out with info/encouragement. Now it is time to nurse the skinned knuckles and knock back a few cold one! LOL



Thanks again,



J-

 

[DerekW]

yeah next time any of you does this job and dont want to tear up stuff and plain jane wearing yourself out I would suggest this and it only requires one tool that is a hammer and maybe 4 hits at the most in the right spot. ball joints are normally tapered where they go into a the member the connected to, with a nut on the other side. To break a ball joint loose break the nut loose 2 rounds any more and part will jump on and can hurt you or if you miss with hammer you could damage threads. beat on the piece of metal that ball joint goes into that has the tapered seat. what you are doing is distorting the tapered spot for a sec and it pops the ball joint right out. We do it on all the balljoints at the 4wd shop used to be at and was easy as pie. rarely did it require more than hits and never required pickle fork, torch, or anything like that. try it next time you wont bust so many knuckles, tools, and such

 

[Flinty]

Derek's method works well with tie rod ends and any thing else with a taper fit. With tie rods I put a 3# sledge on one side then smack it on the opposing side with another 3# sledge.