Help w/ 6 cylinder idler arm

[Scott]

Has anyone ever removed the idler arm on a 1965 6 cylinder Ranchero?


My Ranchero has the 2-hole 6 cylinder type idler arm with a worn bushing.
I can’t seem to be able to remove the two ball stud’s on the steering side of
the idler arm. I own the 65 ford manual; section 3-31 fig 12 shows some kind of Ford
Tool used to remove the two ball studs.which I don’t own. I’ve tried using a couple of different pullers without any
luck.The pullers seem to slide off (can’t bite around the ball joint). I tried two
pullersalthough the one was kind of crappy. Are two pullers required?
I purchased the Sears Pickle Fork Kit. It doesn’t seem to be doing much and
because the manual doesn’t mention using one so I stopped.

Any ideas would be appreciated.
Scott

[pbrown]

The picklefork should do it. Keep in mind that it will damage the seal but you're probably replacing all that anyway. Remove the cotter pin and castle nut and use a BFH on the picklefork.

[Jeff W]

The pickle fork is exactly the way I removed mine. As Pat said, use a big hammer and go for it. I would also use a heavy leather glove on your "holding hand" to help cushon the blow in case you miss the fork. The first time you hit your hand is bad... the next three times are worse.

[Luva65wagon]

Make sure also that the fork is not bottoming out in its slot before it spreads the parts apart. There are a few size forks and you may just have one that's too big for the job. These tapered joints don't take much to separate if you hit them hard enough and the wedge stays engaged before you run out of "slot." And indeed, the seal will be toast most likely, when done, so don't think you'll reuse those.