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FEATURE STORY

Time-Saving Tip for Bleeding Stubborn Brakes (VIDEO)

Time-Saving Tip for Bleeding Stubborn Brakes (VIDEO)

Some brake jobs can turn into headaches when small air bubbles get trapped within the caliper itself. To resolve the problem, you could pump the brakes over and over, or you could try this handy suggestion to free the air bubble and move on with the brake bleed process.

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Time-Saving Tip for Bleeding Stubborn Brakes (VIDEO)

Description Some brake jobs can turn into headaches when small air bubbles get trapped within the caliper itself. To resolve the problem, you could pump the brakes over and over, or you could try this handy suggestion to free the air bubble and move on with the brake...

Shop Profile: Hansville Repair

It’s a small village, but Hansville, Washington makes a grand first impression. As Hansville Road crests a hill and descends into town, a breathtaking panorama unfolds—Puget Sound, Whidbey Island, and distant Mount Baker stretched across the windshield like a...

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Don’t Overlook This Step When Servicing Brakes (VIDEO)

Description A brake service job isn’t complete unless the reservoir cap’s diaphragm has been pushed back into place. This simple step is easy to forget, but it helps to reduce brake fluid contamination and ensure proper system function.Related Videos

Watch This Video On Dry Sump Oil Systems

Recently, I was talking with Shop Press head honcho (Chief Bottle Washer—Ed.) Lemmy about something I wasn’t familiar with: dry sump oil systems. If you’re a newer tech who hasn’t worked on any high-end sports cars, you also might not be familiar with these systems....

Tariff Talk: A Look Backwards at The Chicken Tax

Well, the mood’s been a little heavy with all the talk about tariffs as of late. There’s an automotive tax that’s been around for a long time that is a perfect thing to mention if a conversation is getting uncomfortable. And if you’re a car nut, you should at least...

Watch This Video on the Inventor Who Put Lead in Gasoline

Recently, I went down an internet rabbit hole about why gasoline once had lead in it and how it got removed. In my searches, I found this video on inventor Thomas Midgley Jr., who not only invented leaded gasoline to combat engine knocking but also synthesized...

The rarely seen control arm-mounted trailer ball rears its head

by | Feb 14, 2023

Well, this was a humdinger. Let me explain how I ended up here.

Ball joint stud stuck in lower control arm

Class 0.25 towing capacity, maybe? Photo by Lemmy.

I was popping ball joints free from the lower A-arms so I could swing the CV axles out and replace the hub assemblies on this car. The left side freed up with a few taps. This side? Well, this picture is after the hammer, then the torch, then the big hammer and the pickle fork. Finally I separated the control arm from the knuckle using a homebrewed tool.

This wasn’t the way I was expecting to do it, though. As you can see, the ball stud actually fractured the socket, releasing it. This resulted in the ball joint breaking, rather than the stud end coming free of the lower A-arm and being able to be put back into service. At least in this position I was able to put the ball joint press on it, but it still had some fight left in it. After turning the press’ hex with The Persuader (my four-foot breaker bar) with a three-foot pipe over the handle, it cut loose.

Ball joint in pieces

Well, this is gonna be a fun job, I can tell right now. Image by Kyla Smith-Campbell.

And yes, for all you smartypants folks who will ask, yes, I certainly did remember to take the nut off before I started! On the bright side of the job, the bearings fell right out with very little fanfare, so at least I had that going for me.

Have a good Monday! I hope the rest of the week doesn’t go like this.

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