Lower ball joint

[k1elliott]

Hello peeps.

First
@ Julian: -
Thanks for the herculean work on my bus (haven't flushed the ahc yet )
She passed her MOT/NCT yesterday with flying colours.

Anyone have a linky to a writeup for lower ball joint removal? The nct guys said they picked up some play on both sides so I'm going to get my hands dirty pretty soon.

Looks ok but I can't see how the part comes out of the control arm?

Cheers,
Ken.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

No link for you Ken but AFAIK they're a press fit and just have a big circlip holding them in.

 

[Julian]

I am sure I have seen a couple of threads on this on ih8mud including an American source of replacements

 

[k1elliott]

I'll check out i8hmud so

To be honest I'm coming out of BMW mode and back into cruiser mode. Rebuilt the suspension and steering on my 8 series since coming back from Julian's with my cruiser.

Bought myself a compressor so the work should be nice and quick now. Will take pics and write up if I'm reasonably successful.

Thanks Guys.

K

 

[uHu]

Which puller for the ball joints?
I'm looking to buy one, but found very different models with prices from 10 to over 200 US$.

There are the fixed ones, like this, or C-type, or those with 2 movable arms of different constructions???

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

You don't really need a puller, just a hammer

 

[Chris]

Jon, I am shocked. You have a hammer?

I bet it's a titanium alloy, precision adjustable laser guided strike point of aim affair.

Please don't shatter my illusion. I cannot imagine you wielding such an imprecise piece of garage equipment.

C

 

[Andrew Prince]

Relax, Chris, I think Jon meant that Uhu needed a hammer - not that Jon would ever use one

 

[Julian Voelcker]

Hi Ken,

You can get replacement lower joints from Milners, so far not had any problems with them.

If you are lucky you might be able to hammer them out, however a press does make it a lot easier once you have the arm off (actually you may be able to get creative with a vice with the arm off)

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

The hammer was to split the ball joints, not get them out of the arm

 

[k1elliott]

Have the parts from Milner on the shelf. Will give it a go next week. Also have a 30 tonne press which should do the trick. Might take pics.

Thanks all.

Julian: - those mintex pads on the front are the dogs privates. Ta.

 

[k1elliott]

Hello again Gents,

I had a stab at the job yesterday evening. Got the Tbars off, the lower shocker bolt out, the linky off and the ball joint nut off.

The joint refuses to split however. I have a separator but it's too small.

What's the best investment for this job? One of those claw things?

Cheers,
Ken.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Did you try splitting it with the T-bar on or off? Having the T-bar on will pre-load the joint and make it want to pull apart when you hit it nice and hard with your not soft faced hammer

 

[Julian]

They come apart pretty easily when under tension from the T bar, as Jon said a purposeful size hammer helps alot

 

[k1elliott]

Makes perfect sense.


..... off to hook the t-bars back up later.


Thanks to you both.

 

[k1elliott]

... Actually, scratch that.

Looking at it

Putting downward force on the lower arm via the tbar just pushes the joints together no?

As you can see from the pic that I've been a classic dick and wrecked the threads too with too much persuasion of the solid variety. I'm in this until its fixed now.

Sorry for being a tool. I feel like a right novice.

edit - while we're at it, I assume that the joint pushes out from the bottom of the arm in the press after the circlip is removed? Or is that what you guys are speaking about....

Is it too early for a beer? ;-)

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Sorry Ken, I missunderstood and thought (even though you said lower ) you were doing the upper joint first. If you're not going to split the upper joint (?) then I expect you need to do the opposite and jack the arm up a bit so the weight of the swivel assembly is on the joint and then hit it hard with a blunt instrument on the side of the taper joint, repeat until it falls off:

 

[k1elliott]

Yeah. It's the lower one.

Thanks for the tip Jon. I got it done. I ground down my scissor separator to fit the taper and that combined with some upward force as you suggest split the joint nicely. Pressed out handy too with my shiny new press.

I have the drivers side back ogether more or less and will tackle the other side today.

Much appreciated.

Warm Regards,
Ken.

 

[k1elliott]

Few pics

The old Ball Joint installed: -

The separator applied: -

Popped (applied pressure with the tool then a helpful whack to the very bottom): -

In the press: -

All cleaned up: -

I have both sides back on now and just need to reinstall the Tbars and torque the ball joint nut.

I'm hoping that the weight of the vehicle will be enough to push the ball joint home in the control arm. Then allpy the circlip.

Note: - You may notcie the slight error in the angle of the arm in the press. That was corrected before pressure was applied.
Also, the pic of the separator is after the joint was split for illustration purposes hence the angle of the tool.

 

[TonyP]

I ground down my scissor separator to fit the taper and that combined with some upward force as you suggest split the joint nicely.

I have the same separator and it was also too small to do the lower ball joint on the 90. I do like your idea about grinding down a bit