. Two reasonably heavy hammers is now my preferred method after having used the ‘fork’ type and the ‘scissor’ type in the past. A helper with a long pry bar is useful addition and I leave the nut on so things don’t go flying.
I did the lower ball joints on an early Eunos, not exactly the same but exactly the same problems I guess.
The second one broke easily but the first was a real pain. I was replacing the entire ball joint so no issue with beating the hell out of it.
It finally gave way with the use of a fork type ball joint breaker as if I remember correctly not enough room to use the ball joint breaker you want to use. They are the best if there is room.
From memory one of the main problems is that the suspension is trying to hold on to the joint. May be easier with a second person levering the suspension away from the joint to take pressure off.
I’ve had a Sykes Pickavant one for 25 years and it’s pretty much unbreakable, unlike the crap one Machine Mart sell (Clarke CHT222, I used to sell these and they’re crap).
+1 for the Sykes above; by far the best. Mine looks unmarked after many old cars and several decades. Fortunately, I’ve not needed to use it for more than twenty years!
I also have a very old blue painted cup type (bought in the 1960s for my Mk2 Zodiacs) which works a bit like a g-clamp and it is a bit rubbish but fits the odd joint the Sykes cannot, works well with help from a club hammer, and looks like a little bit like this below.
That Sykes splitter looks a lot skinnier than the one I have, which ought to help.
Plan B is to undo the drop link (they’re recent so are free), move the shock out of the way and unbolt the ball joint from the wishbone. That should give more room for the splitter but it’s more stuff to put back together afterwards as ever!
Thanks, that looks a better method than trying to split it in place. I saw that video before but only watched the first minute or two as, like you say, not exactly true to life.
“Remove the split pin”, more like break it off and try to file the remains off so the socket fits over it.