Hi,
I have a 2003 996 with 115,00 miles on it now. I am in the middle of a couple of my winter projects with this car already doing spark plug and coil pack removal and upgrading the front struts to bilstein B6 with new tie rod ends and stabilizer links. I am currently

stuck trying to remove my control arm bushing. I was having a lot of trouble trying to get the ball joint to separate from the hub, and tried a harbor freight ball joint separetor using my impact gun and I ended up bending the bolt somewhat. Now I don't know what to do and need some advice. I have enclosed a picture of what things look like right now but please help.

I guess one option would be to cut the bolt off as close to the edge as possible then heat up the hub around the bolt and either try a pickle fork or punch or drill through from above.

As a last resort I could probably buy a used hub with a wheel bearing in it and try that but hopefully I can avoid it. Or (even worse) have it towed to a shop and let them take over but I already did all this other stuff without much problem so far.

 

I know this thread is two months old now, but for the next person... A little acetone mixed with transmission fluid is an excellent alternative to PB blaster. Be careful with heat on aluminum, not recommended to use a torch. If you heat it, a heat gun would be enough. Aluminum expands very rapidly, more than 0.001" per 100 degrees F.

 

Hey thanks for replying. I had no help on this forum so I posted this on Rennlist instead and got some useful advice. My name is the same over there if you want to go through all the pictures to see the trouble shooting.

In the end I took the hub assembly off, cut the bent bolt flush with my angle grinder then sprayed Deep creep after heating the area around it with my MAP torch.

I then used an old socket under my ball joint separator and cranked it up with my impact driver. This time I made sure I was completely perpendicular to the socket instead of slightly on an angle. As I cranked it down BOOM the ball joint separated. Scared the crap out of me it was so loud. I was able to do the other side in only about 30 minuets without much trouble.

I have driven the car now about 600 miles and it drives so well I really see no reason to sell it. The trade in value is so low I'll probably keep it for a few more years and maybe get a 997 turbo or a 991 at that time. I have really always enjoyed working on this car and so for haven't needed to take it to the dealer for anything. In the approx 5 years I have owned it I'm averaging approx 750/ year in maintenance and repair including tires.

 

Awesome, glad that worked! It's amazing how stuck steal and aluminum can get to each other.