Originally Posted By: Olas
You don't need a ball joint separator, leave it in the steering knuckle and unbolt the ball joint from the wishbone. So long as the hub nut and track rod end are loose you'll have enough wiggle room.
There is absolutely no point in removing the ball joint nut if you're not going to separate it from the control arm. The ball joint will still be firmly attached to the control arm and will not wiggle at all. That's the whole point of needing a separator to get it loose.
And disconnecting the tie rod alone will not give enough wiggle room to get the axle out. You must disconnect one of the ball joints. (And if you're disconnecting a ball joint, you don't need to disconnect the tie rod). OP's car is extremely similar to mine and probably even uses many of the same part numbers. I've already been there and done this job on my car.
You don't need a ball joint separator, leave it in the steering knuckle and unbolt the ball joint from the wishbone. So long as the hub nut and track rod end are loose you'll have enough wiggle room.
There is absolutely no point in removing the ball joint nut if you're not going to separate it from the control arm. The ball joint will still be firmly attached to the control arm and will not wiggle at all. That's the whole point of needing a separator to get it loose.
And disconnecting the tie rod alone will not give enough wiggle room to get the axle out. You must disconnect one of the ball joints. (And if you're disconnecting a ball joint, you don't need to disconnect the tie rod). OP's car is extremely similar to mine and probably even uses many of the same part numbers. I've already been there and done this job on my car.