Help a guy! Thrust arm spindle WON'T come out of wheel carrier. 2003 530i.

[Kirk Anderson]

My 530i needs a new control arm and thrust arm, driver side front. I was able to replace the control arm using the ball joint separator from Harbor Freight. In fact, I can’t imagine getting that spindle out of the wheel carrier any other way. Trouble is with the thrust arm: I’ve broken two separator tools now and don’t know what else to try. (Yep, I did douse with PB Blaster, and tightened the tool slow and gradual over the course of 24 hours.)

Whacking on it with a BFH isn’t practical, as there’s not much swing space from below and it’s a pretty small target. The pickle fork is nearly useless, as the tines bottom out against the back of the wheel carrier.

Questions:

-Is using the ball joint separator from Harbor Freight insurance against pulling out the bushing instead of the spindle? Do the tines of this tool rest against the top of the bushing?

- What else can I try to break this sucker loose? A torch maybe? Voodoo?

[jclausen]

I just did mine at the shop I work at and I was hitting it with the hammer then I though about the air hammer and they just flew apart the worst case is removing the whole knuckle go to a shop and have them knock them out with the air am hammer

[freebo86]

That thing is hard to remove, especially in your climate where they use salt. PB Blaster, heat and also taps to the carrier (not sure if yours is aluminum?) as you tighten the separator to break it loose. This shocks it.

Did you try using a pickle fork and getting it jammed in there and then tapping the carrier?

As jclausen suggested, on my drivers side I had to remove the entire knuckle and then I was able to beat it out on my bench. This gave me better leverage and swing room to hit it with a 5lb hammer.