Lots of posts about these where the bolt was used to secure the ball joint until 1972 when the wedge started.
My 1969 has the bolt style but right strut was replaced with a wedge. The ball joints are original with 250,000 miles on the bolt and about 200,000 on the wedge. There was a noise on the wedge ball joint, so I replaced them both since both seals had issues.
Removal of the notched ring nut on the bottom of the ball joint, using JimmyT’s tool was the answer as a pipe wrench did not work for me. Used some liquid wrench, but do not think that helped, plus all parts were rust free. Used two long wire ties to hold JimmyT’s tool onto the notched ring nut, then used a 2’ 1/2” drive cheater bar from HF with a floor Jack holding the cheater bar engaged and slightly lifting the car. An extra 2’ steel pipe gave me enough leverage to loose the ring nut.
The bolt style unbolted and a ball joint wedge tool popped the ball joint out. Reassembled with the strut in place with a new bolt
The wedge style was different as I could not get the wedge out after removing the nut on the wedge, so removed the strut. Still could not pound out, so used a propane torch(after removing the shock!) and heated until it started to smoke. The wedge pin came up with a light tap. Let cool, measured the parts, reheated, installed the new parts and used a punch which moved the wedge slightly below the strut surface. Poured some water over the parts to keep the rubber seal on the ball joint from melting. Measuring the parts showed there is a .002” interference fit between the hole in the strut and the round end of the wedge. Would certainly recommend heat for removing and installing a wedge.
The shrink fit is not something I saw on other posts, but the pictures are really interesting as it has to be pretty rare to compare the two systems on the same high mileage car.
The bolt threads are flattened .020” on the diameter from rubbing against the ball joint as the bolt was being removed. You can see the gouges and notches on the top of the ball joint groove where the bolt threads were flattened. The bolt was difficult to remove even after it cleared the threaded portion of the strut. The bolt is rubbing on the top of the ball joint groove which means the ball joint slipped down in the strut and probably stayed there it’s whole life. The strut threads were checked with a tap, by hand, so the threads were perfect.
The wedge showed a shiny wear area on the top of the ball joint, indicating that the wedge ball joint slipped down and stayed there just like the bolt ball joint. I would have guessed the ball joints would be wedged up, not down, but I would be wrong. The wedge and the ball joint show a small circular witness mark in the center-no clue what this means.
Been comments that the bolt type struts are not safe. I do not see that as the bolt threads are not damaged until the bolt is removed. Even if the threads are flattened during use, there is still all of the metal present for shear strength.
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