Harbor Freight Slide Hammer?

[grampy666]

Has anyone bought or used this tool? Item #62959 from their web site is listed at $24.99 which is an attractive price.

Unless it's a POS...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... UoY4m0Te-w

[eaton53]

When I go to HF, I always ask this question... how often am I going to use this?

If the answer is "seldom". I buy.
If the answer is "frequently" I don't.
If it's hard use, the answer is "I don't" even if it's "seldom".

I have a number of HF items that I use infrequently.

[Ed Lijewski]

It's a nice kit, price is also nice. Buy it.

[DPDISXR4Ti]

When I go to HF, I always ask this question... how often am I going to use this?
If the answer is "seldom". I buy.
If the answer is "frequently" I don't.
If it's hard use, the answer is "I don't" even if it's "seldom".
I have a number of HF items that I use infrequently.

How frequently a tool is used is part of the equation, but I'd weight it at 50%, at best. The other 50% (if not more), is how much will I stress this tool for what I want to do with it. To present an extreme example, if the HF tool breaks the first time I use it, it's worthless.

As to the value of this slide hammer kit, used lightly it should work fine. Used in anger, you'll probably start breaking fittings quickly.

[grampy666]

When I go to HF, I always ask this question... how often am I going to use this?

If the answer is "seldom". I buy.
If the answer is "frequently" I don't.
If it's hard use, the answer is "I don't" even if it's "seldom".

I have a number of HF items that I use infrequently.

That last bit of advice may be the determining factor. The need right now is to pull a ball joint out of a Subaru, which might qualify as hard use. Reviews on the product are mixed, but it appears that it is designed for light duty, so I may be off to NAPA for a slide hammer that will do the job without breaking...

Thanks, guys!

[Ed Lijewski]

Interested to know how this tool could be used to "pull a ball joint" out...?

I've got an HF ball joint remover tool that works well. Looks NOTHING like the slide hammer tool above.

YMMV

[grampy666]

Interested to know how this tool could be used to "pull a ball joint" out...?

I've got an HF ball joint remover tool that works well. Looks NOTHING like the slide hammer tool above.

YMMV

On the 2002 Subaru Forester, the body of the ball joint is seated in a blind bore in the spindle ...the blind bore has a slot in the side of it and a pinch bolt to secure the ball joint...the stud points down and seats in the control arm...while it's straightforward to pop the stud out of the control arm, there's no way to press the ball joint body out of the spindle (nothing to press against) or pull it out with a standard 2-jaw puller (nothing to secure the jaws) I've also got a ball joint remover/installer press, but I can't make it work in this situation...I can place the receiver cup over the exposed ball joint stud so it's pressing against the spindle, but any thought of threading the castle nut onto the stud to pull won't work because I can't stop the stud from turning...

the slide hammers come with a standard 2-jaw puller adapter that looks like it could hook over the lip of the grease cup, or it looks like I could use an adapter of some sort to thread onto the hammer and the ball joint stud

now that I have written this up, I wonder if I can't leave the ball joint stud secured to the control arm, loosen the pinch bolt and try to pry or pull between the spindle and the control arm...then I can press the ball joint from the stud side out of the control arm.

[Esteban]

Rent the tool for free at autozone.

[timxr8]

Why not the way that ball joints were separated before the fancy "kits"? Pickle Forks weren't just for pickles. This is more for those planning to replace either the boots or the entire joint because I've always ripped the boot doing this.

https://www.harborfreight.com/16-in-bal ... 63420.html

[grampy666]

managed to get this job done without special tools. Haynes manual has conflicting information, under "ball joint removal", it says pop the stud out of control am, loosen the pinch bolt and use the stud as a handle to pull the ball joint out of the spindle. good luck with that!

under control arm removal it says loosen the pinch bolt and pry between the control arm and the spindle to pop the ball joint out of the spindle, then pop the stud out of the control arm. much more likely to work!

fyi, for those of you who ever have to fix a Subaru!

[thesameguy]

I am trying to envision what this looks like...

Are we talking about this?

[grampy666]

yes, indeed, that looks like the passenger side with the pinch bolt drilled out and replaced with a new, longer bolt and a nut...

in my case, I ruined the original spindle in 2 places and got a JY replacement that I could put in a vise on the workbench to do the work. I was able to partially drill out the pinch bolt and remove it without galling the threads in the spindle. Heat, PB-blaster and a breaker bar instead of whaling on it with the impact wrench

I realize that it would be nice for me to start attaching pictures and I'll have to upgrade from my dump flip phone to do that...