R32 gtst rear hicas ball joint removal

[Harry19]

R32 gtst rear hicas ball joint removal. Can these only be pressed?

Edited July 25, 2017 by Harry19

[GTSBoy]

The ball joint comes out of its taper like any other ball joint's taper.  Use a splitter, pickle fork, two f**k off big hammers, etc etc.

The taper is pressed into the end of the arm and if you want that out so that you can convert to non-HICAS, then yes, press it out.  Off the car.

[Duncan]

I assumed he meant removing it from the hub, and no I don't know any way to do it on the car either. take it to a workshop and let them swear at it

[vxsr33]

Its not hard at all to do yourself at home. You just need a ball joint press tool which you can get from ebay for less than $50 and you need an angle grinder to cut the tie rod ball joint. Once it's cut completely flush you can just simply press it out. If you dont cut it completely flush you won't be able to press it out as the joint will have a lip.

[kingtube69]

^^^ what VXSR said, get a cheap kit off ebay and use that. I followed @Dose Pipe Sutututus guide from Trak Life and it went smoothly. It took me loner to change my camber arms than it did to get the hicas joints out. I used the eBay kit and a battery impact and it did it with ease. 

 

[thebe]

Those were a real pain in the ass to get off of my r33 gtst.

I used a Y fork and a hammer to get the arm off. Then dremel to cut the lip of the bushing. Tried heat and hammer many times but didnt do shit. Then bought a g-press thingie from eBay (70€ or so with postage to Finland) but didnt move even with a big ass lever... Then attached a bolt gun to the g press and after hitting it a while with the gun it gave up and got them off!

Used the same g press-thingie to fit new bushings for the hicas delete kit.

I think the bolt gun + g press + heat is the only way to do it with the hub still in car. Even with the bolt gun it took a real hammering before they came off. I strongly suggest getting those before you dive in.

Attached a few pics I found from my old phone, hope they are usefull.

[32_love]

Use an angle grinder to grind the rear end of the ball joints flat.

Then use a Pitman Arm Puller to push the joint out (pushing towards the front, from the rear).

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/Toledo-Pitman-Arm-Puller-311279/SPO84277

I used a supercheap one like above, but I can't remember the exact width at the moment.

 

I actually used the arm puller with a socket on the end to push the replacement bushes in as well, but can be done a number of ways.

NOTE: Only reason I went this way was because I didn't have access to a bush press, nor the patience to remove the hub. Also a friend of mine did the grinding as I was hopeless at it. Hope this helps.