If you haven't got access to a ramp and working from your driveway, then this is an option allowing you side access to separate the lower control arm ball joint with a fork. You will need to remove the brake calliper, brake carrier, disc, brake shield and have a fork and sledge hammer ready to hand.
It might be handy to keep a few metal washers for the brake shield and WD40 to loosen the nuts. Its made of a tin material and sometimes its can be rusted in and could break off so you might need some metal washers when you reinstall it. There are some folks who have cut the tin out completely but I would try an use it if its in good condition.
He works like I do, disorganised with tools and bits all over the floor.
At least he had axle stands.
That ball joint fork would ruin any ball joint you wanted to put back on.
Good tip about the brake back plate, I thought he was going to
have a "doh" moment when he discovered the backplate didn't
come off, but spinning it gave excellent access to the balljoint.
I replaced the tension strut without taking the brake disc
off, but it was a hard slog, and I bent the ball joint fork
swinging on a 4 foot scaffold pole, that ball joint was a sod to break.
I note that Pedders makes a bush for the chassis end of the lower control arm, (radius arm / tension strut), but there seems to be nothing in the way of a replacement for the ball joint end, making it a bit of a pointless upgrade
edit.....tell a fib, I found some
edit (2)...... or maybe I didnt. Most sites are very opaque and actually refer to the lower ball joint in the knuckle, so who knows!?
The lower ball joint (knuckle) is slightly larger than the ball joint at the lower control arm. When I last looked at it, I couldn't find anything to replace it. The ball joint (knuckle) measures just 40mm and the one at the control arm is more closer to 37mm, rough estimate though.
The lower ball joint (knuckle) is slightly larger than the ball joint at the lower control arm. When I last looked at it, I couldn't find anything to replace it. The ball joint (knuckle) measures just 40mm and the one at the control arm is more closer to 37mm, rough estimate though.
thats where I'm at too.....lower ball joints sat on a shelf in the garage ready to go, but I really cant see the point in being able to source a lower control arm bush, but no joint....its pointless doing one without the other, may as well buy a new arm - is that a greaseable Moog arm you have there? If so, did you get it over here or import it? Moog arms available in the UK seem to be the un-nippled version
I got these from a London based firm, jeepchryslerparts.co.uk, should be OK for another 30K or so before they go. We'll be expert soon at changing parts
The ones I received were the brand named BAW which came with the zerk fittings. Zerk fittings didn't seem to come with the rubber dust caps though plenty of spares about on ebay.
These are the parts numbers,
Left side - 4782613AC (its got the numbers 05070123 embossed on the arm)
Right side - 4782612AC (its got the numbers 05070122 embossed on the arm)
Is dreamcatcher replacing the tension strut or the control arm ?
Again the terms are a bit confusing.
Tension strut is fairly easy, control arm, not so, then you have the tricky
decision whether to replace the balljoint in the knuckle, and can this job be done in situ,
or does the knuckle need to be completely removed from the car [ still waiting for an answer ].
It certainly is confusing! Both are actually lower control arms. The longer one at the bottom is the front lower control arm, also know as the tension strut or caster arm. The shorter one which has a large bush & small bush at the ends is the rear lower control arm, which is easy to remove.
With a 4lb sledge hammer, you can remove the tension strut in no time. It took only a couple of hits to separate the joint with a fork, about 2 minutes to separate but as I remember the disassembling of the callipers, calliper carriers, disc and tin (brake shield) took a while, about 40 minutes.
My view, its best to do the ball joint at the knuckle at the same time but tackle it first before moving onto the tension strut because the knuckle needs the control arms to support it place whilst using the press to remove it. I basically turned the steering at full lock to give better access and then used a basic C frame ball joint press. When the ball joint was done, I then moved on to tackled the tension strut as per video.
The job wasn't took difficult, just need a little patience also wheel alignment will need doing, though I found it wasn't too out of range.
I think it makes economical sense to change both parts at the same time, should last another 30k or more if lucky. It was fun
I got the BAW arms, thanks for the heads up.....I promised myself that as I fixed bits of suspension I'd use grease nippled replacements as the 'sealed for life' variety seem prone to dying off rapidly. I normally do this with the Moog 'problem solver' variety, but these are a lot cheaper. If they die quickly I'll go back to my original plan, if not I've saved a bit of cash.
Did you have issues torquing the upper wishbone? I found I had to dismantle loads to get at the left rear nut, and even then I had only a tiny throw for the torque wrench available
Your welcome. I removed the shock absorber without removing the upper A arms (wishbone) but the ball joint at the upper A arm that connects to the knuckle needed undoing for the purpose of removing the shock absorber out of the way. I used a ball joint separator tool to undo the upper A arm to avoid damage to the rubber boot (the fork will kill it). The ball joint also has a useful hexagon end which is helpful, will accept an allen key that allows it to be held in place whilst undoing the castle nut, sometimes it spins.
The drop link was also removed, only at one end that connected to the shock absorber.
You need a spring compressor to take some of the tension out of the coils springs, it would be difficult or impossible without the help of this tool to get the shock absorber out of the way. My current set up is kind of different now with the air ride, the shock absorber are shortened (the shock body is also slightly shorter in length) and are bags instead of coil springs, much much easier to removed.
you mistake me....I've done the upper wishbones some time ago - I was asking if (like me) you had issues in torqueing the nuts accurately due to the lack of clearance in the engine bay
I think you may have more room in the CRD....I had to get the wipers & trim off & put the torque wrench into a small gap behind the factory cross brace. It was a real pig
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