'04 2.7T.
Attempting my first CV boot replacement. Pinch bolt came out with no problem, just long and tedious. I already took the axle bolt out.
Now, I absolutely cannot get the upper control arms out. I've banged the arms themselves from underneath with a 4 pound sledge, I've tried to pry them out from underneath the arms (not the boot) with a breaker bar, i've tried the sledge with a chisel on the indent on the end of the ball joint, i've tried smacking the upright around the ball joints with the sledge.
I'm stuck. The only thing I haven't tried is a ball joint separator because I'm home alone and this is my only car.
Anyone have any tips or tricks I could try?
And also, if they're this hard to get out, how the hell am I supposed to get them back in???

Thanks~!

 

I had to use a ball joint tool and different lengths of bolts to press the rear arm ball joint out. I started with just the ball joint tool but it eventually squeezed together to the point where it interfered with the upright. I then cut a bolt shank to add some more distance back to the ball joint tool. Thread the tool until it again contacted the upright. I had to make two more lengths in order to press the ball joint out. Banging on the suspension arms sucks because it leaves dings in all that soft aluminum. What year A6? (Nevermind I see you have a 04 2.7T, same as me but S-line)

Here is the tool I needed to get the rear ball joint out with different lengths of bolt shank.
http://www.whatsyourconcept.com/data...%7D_OT6297.jpg

Here is the tool I used to get the front upper control arm out, this one went very smoothly.
http://getmetools.com/pics/kd3533.jpg

It is worth getting a tool similar to the one above and saving the different lengths of bolt shanks as the other CV boot will rip shortly after you replace the first one.

Here read my thread about my CV boot replacement. Driver's side in December and then the passenger's side in January.
https://www.audiforums.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=101176

 

So I got the front arm out, but that one had already budged out earlier in the day. Now I bought a pickle fork. NO auto supply stores in my area carry ball joint separators. I got the front out with a combo of the pickle fork and a chisel and sledge. The rear will not budge AT ALL!! The boot is torn to absolute ****, one of the reasons I didn't want to use a pickle fork. So, does this mean my upper arms are now shot since I tore the boot or no?

 

Yeah it's toast now. I would just get it apart and complete the job. Then when you get the right tools replace the upper control with the damaged boot. You definitely don't won't to use those pickle forks they tear the boot and will dig into your aluminum control arms.

 

The boot is just a "dust boot", is it not?
If you keep the joint well-greased, then you shouldn't have any problems until you get a new pair/set of c. arms.

 

I ended up using the rear lower CA method to complete the boot repair. That sucker will NOT budge. I'll have to get my hands on a ball joint separator or air hammer when I replace the CA's eventually. Will I have to drop the strut from the engine bay to replace the CA's or will I be able to get those upper bolts our w/o removing the strut assembly?

 

How did you get the bottom control arm separated? When I did my CV axle boots I couldn't get the bottom control arm off so I did the two top ones instead.

 

I guess it just goes to show you how unique every single car can be. My rear upper was absolutely impossible to remove. For the lower, I used a breaker bar (as a pry bar) placed between the top of the arm and the pry tab on the knuckle. I think I did some sledge action on the arm and knuckle and some steering wheel turning. I played around with some different techniques for about 5 minutes, then it just popped right out! Next time, I think I'll jack up the suspension and turn the wheel all the way to the left and it should pop out super-easy. That's what I had to do to get it to go back in.