well, I finally popped that pin out.
for reference sake: the pin is precisely 7/32" in diameter
I found a threaded rod that was 3/16" - the closest thing that I
could find at my local hardware store.
punched that bad boy out from underneath. it was such a pain.
If I had the proper punch it would have gone a lot faster.
after putting the new axle in, I thought I had the holes lined up and
started pounding the pin back in. it was off by a smidgen so I wasted
about 40 minutes trying to force the pin through before I figured it
was unaligned.
backpedal a few steps, turned the axle 180 degrees and it lined up
perfectly.
Pin goes back with some effort but not nearly as much frustration.
the rest all comes back together pretty quick.
One thing I did different than every other post/article/howto I found
was I unbolted the two 19mm bolts that connect the strut to the hub.
These two bolts are SO much easier to remove than the ball joint. the
only problem is that these bolts also adjust the camber. Well,
fortunately the car is old and grimy, I just just adjusted the camber
until the grime outline matched the old (by turning the top bolt).
voila, without the pin removal, this job was quite easy. I believe the
left side (which I didn’t do) would be a lot easier because of access
to that stinking pin.
hope this will help someone one day.
over and out
