Im looking for a Pickel fork. And unlike when I am buying my old lady somthing I want the best. Cheap tools spell broken knuckels.
I cant say it is the best because I have not used others but I bought the Lisle picle fork set that comes with screw on interchangeable forks with one common shaft and it has worked fine the half a dozen times I have used it. If I were planning on using it everyday I would probably get a dedicated one for each size I needed. Lisle stuff can be found at most good auto stores and is not too badly priced.
Snap-On has the best of that kind of tool (in my opinion) use them everyday but a bit pricey. Feebay has lots of good used ones. Their air tool insert is good seems like it takes too long. I use the dedicated size one piece type and a hammer the most.
I have one large and one small KD; they were fairly cheap and have held up perfectly through all sorts of extreme violence, much of it not involving either pickles or ball joints. I prefer specialized puller tools for rod ends and ball joints, but for some reason the forks are always easier to find in the garage.
i have the same set and for the few times i have used it it worked very well. if youre running a business i'd go with snap-on, but the lisle set is fine for the home mechanic.
I have two types. The craftsman fork is a one piece deal and has served well for forty years. I also have a Lisle set with interchangable ends. I would recommend either. Just buy a quality tool and you can't go wrong.
Personally, I don't like to use pickle forks. They tear up the boot. I know, not an issue when replacing old parts with new.. But, a lot of the time we reuse old parts that are in good shape or just want to disassemble to access another part. So do as the pros do. Remove the cotter pin, loosen the nut until it is just on the part 2 or 3 threads. This will keep the part from flying off the car when you get it free. Use large hammer, smack the "boss" that the tie rod/ball joint sticks thru..not the end, the side. You have to hit it hard enough to distort the taper( some times you need to back it up with another hammer !) No damage will occur because the tie rod/balljoint is holding the shape. Many spindles have a flat spot cast or machined on the side of the boss. This is where you hit. I have removed thousands ( dirt track racing is a contact sport !) of tie rod/ball joints this way over the last 40 years or so and stopped using pickle forks in high school. Dave ;-)
I had a Harbor Freight PF once. The first blow knocked the head off it. The Craftsman PF I replaced it with is bullet proof. $20 well spent. JH
When I was a "pro" I did exactly what Dave Lewis suggest about 90 percent of the time, Using the pickle fork only when I couldn't pop a tie rod end or ball joint loose by hitting the "boss" with my 2-1/2 lb machinest hammer. My right thumb still has the scar (that took 4 stitches) from hitting it with the hammer when I missed the end of the pickle fork. The pickle fork as Dave said, chews up way too many boots so that you can't reuse them. The trick is to hit the spot square with a big enough hammer.
I don't use either and haven't done so for over 20 years,I only use the proper tool now ,a tie rod end puller.
Don't use one to take up chipboard subflooring in your house. Appearantly they weren't made for that kind of prying and stuff. I got mine from Auto Zone. It worked o.k. for a while, but the subflooring killed it....head broke off. I like the above mentioned idea of not even using one. I believe there is a lot of truth and wisdom in that post.
never had a use for a pickle fork after over a hundred cars that ive owned,,,,,,well,,i did try and use one once,,along time ago when i was like 15,,,my dad walked up and saw all the trouble i was having with it,,,he told me to move outta the way,,,then he BOPPED the spindle,,, never used a pickle fork again since ,,,,, would love to have a BBC or HEMI powered pickle fork boat though!
i have it on good authority that the Pampered Chef pickle fork does a terrible job at removing ball joints.
Boy you just saved me a lot of typing. 12 years as a technician and I've never even owned one of those wretched things. Some tools seem like they were designed for folks who don't know better. Pullers I do use, if I'm working with plated or painted knuckles. In a normal professional repair environment though, most of the tie rod end pullers on the market fail pretty damn quick.
I do this every week at work (line mechanic) and it works. I don't own a pickle fork. Usually 3-4 hits with my big hammer and its falls out. 2 hands, big hammer.
The last time I used a big hammer to jolt a tapered fitting out was on a Ford Houdaille shock arm....something for the younger ones to take on board when they try to remove a shock absorber and cant figure why the arm is so tight.
you dont need a fork just smack it in the right place one time and it'll pop loose, ok maybe a couple times
Pickle fork is a great tool, use mine on everything that doesn't need the rubber boot saved. Hammering the spindle instead is a great technique to save the boot, but the stubborn ones need the pickle fork hammered in to tension the joint before you hammer the spindle. Both of my forks are cal-vans and at least 30 years old, holding up fine. Keep an eye open at swap meets, they're fairly common used.
I love when my wife gets roped into one of those parties. A strange woman comes to my house, cooks some really good food, cleans up, then says, "would you like to buy some of my wares ". And i say "NO", and show her the door. I'm trying to get at least 5 parties a week if possible.
I made a little tool out of a connecting nut and a couple of bolts to pop the ball joints loose without using a pickle fork. The nut is about two inches long, threaded all the way through. Put a bolt in each end, chuck it between the ball joints, and then back out the bolts until one of the ball joints pops loose. Course, you back off the castle nuts a few threads before you start. Saves the boots, and works when a lot of hammering won't pop them loose.
Aplayer's ball jointer is an exact duplicate of the excellent Kent moore one, probably for about 2% of the price! My tierod unpopper is a KR Wison, most likely way older than I am.
i second the craftsman fork, mines so old the thing doesnt have a finish on it at all and its never failed me yet.
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