yes... works every time in 60 seconds or less... $10 at autozone... gets ball joints and everything off... great to have...

to much work and cost more then above... and it likes to roll off busting knuckles and metal flying everywhere... threw mine away...

 

really? you must not have been doing it right. lol.

i've used mine to remove many rod ends, as well as a few pitman arms with out an issue.

you can't remove a pitman arm with a pickle fork. haha.

 

you cant remove the pitman arm from the steering box with a pickle fork i know... but he wasnt talking about doing that... lol... and theres only one way to use the pulley... so im positive it was the right way... lol... i tried it on my buddies TJ when we were lifting it... kept slipping off and wouldnt stay centered and i got pissed and threw it in the woods... (not really the trash i know lol) 5 bangs with the pickle fork and off it came... made me even more mad... lol... good to have for a pitman arm though but only that...

 

yeah, i hear ya, there was a few time it was tough to line the puller up so it wouldn't slip off, or even get it twisted around the end. but yeah, for the 5 bux for a pickle fork, it does the job. just gotta be careful not to damage the rubber boot.

i have a few pickle forks, but the puller is smaller and fits in the off road kit easier.

but if there's room you can just hit the part on the bulge that the tie rod end bolts through, or the end of the knuckle. but not the rod end itself. just use a bfh and it should just pop out.

 

Went and got a pickle fork today, and sure enough it worked like a charm.

 

Its true forks sometimes ruin the dust cover, but it usually comes apart before the boot rips.

 

90% of the time your replacing the joint your pulling anyways... so the boot dont matter...

 

So I had the same issue when doing my tie rod ends and drag link. Could not get the darn tie rod ends from the steering stabilizer and the pitman arm. I know there was not a lot of room to hit with a hammer. I attempted to use the pickle fork. I honestly had no luck getting any of the ends off with the fork. Several came out by use of a couple good taps of the hammer. I went to autozone once and rented the tie rod end puller. It worked in combination with several strikes of a hammer while attempting to tighten the puller every couple hits. It got the two extremely stuck ends out of the pitman arm and the steering stabilizer.

I have read the suggestions over many posts to use a hammer, pickle fork, pitman arm puller, and PB Blaster or some other rust penetrant or if all you have around is Wd40 you can try this, but it will be less effective. Several good soakings over a few hours or even days. If all else fails people stated using a blow torch . Hope this helps anyone reading this that is stuck on this same issue several other people and myself have had.

 

Pros can sometimes wack a component where the tapered stud of the ball joint goes through and cause it to release in one hit. Though it requires some experience because it has to be in the right spot, with sufficient force, and without hesitation.

The problem is I don't do this everyday, so by the time I've hit the component 6-7 times because my aim sucks, I've done some pretty good damage to the component, and the tie rod end (which is a ball joint) stud is still fully seated (stuck).

The winning combination for the DIYer is a tie rod end separator from Harbor Freight (or wherever). They cost about $15 there. They work well, but they are not quite brawny enough and can break or deform if the tie rod end is really tight. So I found that if you use the separator to apply some initial force, while also giving the component a good wack with a hammer (2 lb mini sledge works best) that the joint almost always separates on the first try. This method also usually avoids damage to the rubber boot if the separator is positioned carefully.