Removing Ball Joint Housing

[Snotime]

Anyone have any suggestions on how to get a ball joint housing out of a Polaris strut?

[PJ]

Yessir....
Done many of them....
Clean the bottom of the strut very good, there are 2 recessed Allen screws you need to remove and a plate that retains the ball joint.
Take a wrench that barely goes over the stud... Box end of course.. put it on there, put a washer and the nut back on.... heat up the bottom of the strut housing with a propane torch evenly all the way around the bottom... get it hot and then put pressure on the wrench pushing it down... if it doesn't slide out then use a hammer and tap on the wrench... it should come right out, if it doesn't, hit it harder and keep the strut heated up around the bottom...
Reinstalling.... take the new one and stick it in your freezer for a couple hours minimum... heat the bottom of the strut again.... install ball joint once bottom of strut is good and hot and ball joint is frozen...
The aluminum will expand at a rate faster than the steel in the ball joint will.
All of this can be done with the strut on the machine..
You can do it this way... or you can buy the tool from Polaris...
Hope this helps...
By the way... I stock those ball joints here in my garage for friends who have Poo's... lol...
If you have any problems call me, you have my # still I think, if not its in the contact forum here on the board...

Pj

[PJ]

I should mention that is the way to do it if the stud isn't already out of the joint.
If it is... its a bit harder... but it can be done.
Call me on that one, its a lot to type... lol....

[PJ]

Here is one on the lift getting ball joints...

[Snotime]

I should mention that is the way to do it if the stud isn't already out of the joint.
If it is... its a bit harder... but it can be done.
Call me on that one, its a lot to type... lol....

Yep, the whole stud pulled out....about a half mile behind my house in the woods. It was a long hike out and a long hike back in carrying a tool box!

It looked something like this....



Here's a rear view. Home was straight ahead that way!