best place to buy special tools?

[Roy Wendell]

snip
>I don't know if it's the "approved" method, but a little penetrating oil
>is fine, you can always clean up the residue with brake cleaner.  Using
>the BFBar method, moving the A-arm up and down slowly will usually yield
>results.  I've also removed the ball joint bolt, then dropped the car
>back down on the tire,  pushing the tire back and forth with your foot
>(e-brake on) has also helped in getting out stuck ball joints.  A few
>good whacks (at 90 degrees to the BJ) with a Brass hammer helps too.
>
>BCNU,
>http://www.geocities.com/cobramsri/
>There are two types of tragedies in life. One is not getting what you
>want, the other is getting it.
>
>"Robert M" <porter_t_dog at hotmail.com> writes:
>> 
>> Hmm.... interesting.
>> 
>> OK, I'll accept that it's not good to do that anymore.  What *is* 
>> the 
>> approved procedure?
snip

As others have indicated, getting the balljoint to seperate from the upright has more to do with getting the control arm to move down relative to the rest of the car than anything else. I usually remove the sway bar mounts on both sides. Then it's usually a matter of applying some downward force with either a dead blow mallet or a pry bar of some sort. The upright's downward travel is limited by the full droop stop built into the strut. What's fighting the downward movememt of the arm is the rubber inner control arm bushing and much more importantly the big torsion bar that connects the two front control arms together (sway bar or anti-roll bar if you prefer). Only use the pickle fork if you like replacing the ball joint boot and paying Audi $20 bucks for a little piece of rubber. The pickle fork doesn't do the complete job anyway because as soon as you slide it out the control arm forces the joint right back into position. Ask me how I know.

Roy