Clutch Job #2
So we’ve been working on and off for several weeks now on John’s ‘88 Integra. Being an old car, we were expecting things to break and things to be stuck… Our main goal was to get the half-shaft out from the transmission which necessitated the removal of the ball-joint from the hub. However, it was still stuck even after using special pullers, forks, crowbars, dead-blow mallets, and other various tools. So instead we took the long way and removed every other component attached to the hub — the drive shaft, torsion arm, suspension strut, brake caliper and disc — and finally got enough room to get the half-shaft out. Unfortunately, due to our negligence earlier, we ripped the protective boot around the ball-joint and still had to somehow remove it. Finally, after a week of running out of ideas, the control arm ball joint bolt popped free from the hub it was attached to: We got the two stuck components free from the car and used the cooling (shrinking) side effect of brake cleaner and a 16oz. hammer to finally get it free. It took about 50 hard blows at the bolt while the hub was being propped up by a piece of 2″ by 8″ wood. Here’s a pic. (the photo’s color balance is off because the good pic was corrupted by Image Magick when I was resizing it. argh! >:-/) The second is a close-up of the stubborn tapered bolt.
I hate that damn m*****-fcuking ball joint!
And btw, if Tracie and/or Lynn are/is reading this, I’ve been practicing my foosball. 
Lynn said,
July 31, 2003 @ 2:10am
i AM reading this. and i have been practicing my foosball TOO.
Aaron said,
July 31, 2003 @ 11:01am
Good. We’ll rumble sometime, then.
erica said,
August 2, 2003 @ 8:56pm
i just tried to subscribe to your site and i spelled my email address wrong. go figure. it’s just my name, and i can’t even type it out right. grr…i blame the cat bite.
Aaron said,
August 3, 2003 @ 12:10am
Haha, don’t worry about it. happens to all of us. btw, to clarify, subscription is limited only to the specific post to which you commented on (or subscribed to). If you want to subscribe to the site in general (e.g. get updates of new posts), you’ll have to wait until I get my lazy a** off the chair and do something about it. or you can email me to give me a swift kick in the pants.