Hey,
A couple of sundays ago, I broke a ujoint in my dana 30 which took both axle shafts with it. The steering knuckle ended up getting ripped off at the ball joints as we were getting it turned around, which made for a rather long night. I'm trying to get the ball joints out of the inner and outer of the axle and am getting more and more frustrated every day. I've done a search, and everyone seems to say that you can do it with a BFH, or a press. I just was wondering if there's any trick to this, or if anyone has some advice for me. I've been trying to find a place to rent a press, but I've had no luck so far. Also, I know that I shouldn't be putting any time or money into a dana 30, but the only reason I'm fixing it is to sell it. Thanks in advance.
~Scott

i take it you are talking about the ball joints themselves.. getting them out of the steering knuckle..
i use a bfh.. with a piece of pipe.. about a foot long.. i set the knuckle in a concrete block.. and pound away..
one of them will have a c clip on it.. so make sure you take that off..

Mine were so seized in and rusty that I took a sawzall and cut both sides flush with the knuckle and then pounded them out with a steel rod. The area of the balljoint that extends past the knuckle will get too rusty to force back through the knuckle. I also had to do this with the ujoints on my d44 - cut the center cross out with a sawzall and then pound the caps out one at a time.

I'm talking about the ball joints, and the cups that they fit into. I'm having the most trouble trying to get the cups out of the actual housing. Any tips?

Lots of PB blaster to loosen the rust, heat with torch to help persuade the rust to break free and then a c-clamp style press to get it out. Just did it on a '86 D30 on an XJ- it was a certified bitch. Basically had to crank on the press till you thought something would break and then the joint would pop! Use 1/2 inch socket wrench. I broke 2 3/8" sets before I was sucessful <IMG SRC="smilies/mad.gif" border="0">

I had to rest the knuckle on a big steel anvil and start working the ball joint out with a 4lb. sledge hammer. Once it starts to come out (break the seal) it will move pretty easily.