Bedford CF-UK Message Board Logo [Home] [Search] [FAQ]
Bedford CF-UK Message Board > CF Blog Spot > Upper suspension balljoints replacement.
[Private Message] [Register] [Profile] [Member list] [Log-in]
Who's Online:
There are 0 member(s), and 1 guest(s) online.
 
[Printable Version] [Post Reply]
Author Message
Anon
Deleted
Posts :
Location :
Status    : Offline

Upper suspension balljoints replacement.

Just replaced both upper balljoints today..

Quite a tiring job with a few tricky bits to it, but eventually got it done. I found that as directed by other members here, lifting beddie by placing a jack under the bottom wishbone was enough to do the job, with no need for a spring compressor.

First thing was to remove the balljoint nuts. Easy. Just a spanner used, not even needed an allen key. Then used a balljoint separator to aid the separation of the balljoint from the steering knuckle. The top wishbone was lifted up and the brake drum and hub was supported on an axle stand.

After a bit of an effort to remove the balljoint with the wishbone in place, I gave up and removed the wishbones. Bushes were fine on both sides. The long bolt retaining the wishbone is torqued tight (or at least should be) so I didn't even try to use anything but my impact wrench to loosen it up. A bit of very light tapping with a hammer and it came off.

Then came the fun part. After removing the circlip and rubber boot from the balljoint, I took the whole wishbone to the bench and laid it on a vice. I used a socket as a drift to drive the old balljoint out. I found that it really did need the seven bells of hell beaten out of it to make it move. The most effective way I found was to grab the wishbone by one of the bolt ends, lay the balljoint between the jaws of the vice, threaded side up, fit the socket on top, and swing the hammer with all my strenght straight on to it. One came off with one swing, the other one needed three swings like that to move. I might have to invest in a HEAVY sledgehammer..

But what was even more fun was fitting the new ones in....... For a start, someone decided they didn't like the springy type rubber boot retainer, and used a ridiculous spiral wire thingie. Needless to say, I had to chop these off and use the old springy type boot retainers. For a start, to properly fit the balljoints, the rubber boot has to be removed. The retainers that were on there, were NOT meant to be removable.

As soon as the splines were aligned, I used a socket again to tap them in.. But tap came to hit, hit came to slam, slam came to beat the holy crap out of, and they still wouldn't go in... Change of plans.. Tried using two suitable sockets, and the vice, to push it in. After bending the vice lever, I resorted to more hammering.. 20 minutes per ball joint and they were in. Got new circlips, fitted them, packed the rubber boots with grease, and fitted them along with the usable retainers.

Re-fitting the wishbones is easy, but remember to fit the rubber suspension stop before you refit the wishbone. I had to remove it to make room for the balljoint separator and forgot it on one, a mistake which took several profanities to rectify.. It is much easier to fit the threaded part of the balljoint into the steering knuckle if you haven't tightened the long wishbone bolt yet.

After this is in and the nut is on, I tightened the wishbone bolts, and then the balljoint nuts. The balljoint nuts will probably need an allen key to start the tightening process.

Torqued everything to the right torque settings:

Balljoint nuts: 51.5 Nm
Wishbone long bolt nuts: 129 Nm
Wheel nuts: 68 (67.8) Nm

Interestingly, the new ball joints had metric bolts, 19 mm.

Upon examining the old ball joints, there was some evident play on both of them, and they were generally very loose. But I'm still wondering, do they really need to be replaced? I mean, how do they actually fail? They still seemed like I would need to use the angle grinder to remove the ball from the bit that is keeping it in place! Being young and not having as much experience repairing vehicles as some other members of the club, I was wondering if anyone has actually seen a ball joint fail like that. I have only seen one ball joint fail, on a friend's Peugeot.. But on that one, the threaded part snapped clean off, while doing 60 down the M1... The ball part was still in place! So I was just wondering whether I rushed too much to change them, and if I could have safely gone longer with the old ones.

So, apart from the use of some "special" tools, such as a torque wrench, a ball joint separator, and an impact wrench, the job can be done at home (as long as you can swing a hammer stronger than John Henry)...

----------------------

Wed 22 Sep 2010 @ 01:57 Edit this messageQuote this messagePMQuote this message
Time in GMT
[Post Reply]
New posts since your last visit Administrative Functions: Open/Close/Delete Thread / Move Thread
Old post

Forum Jump:

Back to the CF-UK Homepage ][ Email CF-UK

Powered by FunkBoard vCF0.74c