How Not To Change A Lower Front Balljoint

This is the second in a series of 'How Not To...'. The first, was how not to change rear brake pads (for the curious, Pagid pads at least, have a low pad warning spring steel strip which is held on one pad in each pair by a rivet - get them the wrong way around and the rivet sits on a caliper finger and tilts the pad).

Anyway, MOT failure and so I had to change the lower wishbone balljoint.

WARNING: Long and wordy - I could cut to the chase, but I want to put a few details in just to help anyone who might do this job.

First problem, could get decent access to the clamp bolt head that holds the balljoint to the hub casting. Read CJJ's How To on the T-Bar and realised (duh) I had to turn the steering to full left lock. Nearly rounded it before I read that as was using an open-ended to get in what gap there was (always use a hex socket - I used a 3/8" drive socket set).

Anyway, the clamp bolt wouldn't budge. Eventually I used heat on the hub casting clamp lug and this finally moved the bolt - it was gummed up with powdery orange rust in the threads. That went into acid to clean it off.

Next problem was getting the lower balljoint to separate from the clamp casting on the hub. I used a stout length of alloy bar and a lump hammer (brake disc supported on jack with some wood as a load spreader) to hit the balljoint forging on the wishbone to try and knock it out of the clamp casting. It wouldn't budge. I tried allsorts. Eventually, I moved the height of the brake disc down a bit by lowering the jack supporting it and it finally popped out. Not sure why. It's a parallel fit, not a taper, and there wasn't appreciable rust. I think just alignment problems were holding it in...

I removed the hub assembly to one side.

So, I ground off the balljoint rivet heads (one is a bit trick - needed help from a Dremel) - they wouldn't drift out though. Ended up drilling them out with a 6.5mm drill. Then they drifted out (bit of pipe behind the balljoint for support).

The new balljoint just slides into the wishbone, once the old one is removed. You bolt it in position, then offer the hub assembly back up to the upper arm and wishbone. I didn't have the upper arm high enough up (the spring drives it down so you need to put a wooden wedge beneath the arm pivot after jacking the hub up when you start off) so I had to drop the roll bar a bit - CJJ undid the droplink on the other side, I just undid the rollbar rubber clamp on the side I was working on.

That gave the 1/2" more height I needed to get things back together. I put a jack under the balljoint itself (with some high density closed cell foam as a cushion) and jacked up the lower balljoint, but it only went halfway into the hub clamp lug. Eventually, I jemmied the clamp halves apart a little with a big screwdriver, and the balljoint just popped straight into the hub clamp. It went too far actually and I had to use said screwdriver to lever it back down a bit so I could get it aligned so the clamp bolt would go in. Tightened up, job's a good 'un.

Except the drop link. Tidied up the drop link with a new coat of paint and went to fit it and...you can't. Not with the hub back on the wishbone. The upper drop link bolt cannot be inserted through the wishbone angle bracket with the hub on. Turning the steering either way doesn't help. You could maybe put it in backwards, with the nut on the inside, but that's not the way it came off and the extra length of bolt would probably foul the hub.

My heart sank...

Simples I thought, undo the clamp bolt, punch the lower balljoint down to knock it out of the hub clamp, insert the drop link bolt, then reassemble. Except - could I get the balljoint out of the clamp, could I buggery. Hammer blow after hammer blow failed to move it more than halfway. I tried adjusting the hub height via the jack, no effect. There really is a weird alignment problem with this lower balljoint/hub clamp. Had I had some help, maybe a big screwdriver levering the clamp apart a little might have got it out. Balljoint splitters of the tapper fork type don't work, at least mine wouldn't, not enough height and anyway it mashes the balljoint rubber.

I was stuck. A cup of tea later I had a brainwave though - undo the three bolts holding the bnew balljoint into the wishbone - then slide the balljoint and hub out of the wishbone. You now have enough room to insert the drop link bolt in the wishbone bracket ;0)

Reinsert balljoint/hub assy into wishbone (this was tricky - three holes to align - a taper is useful here - I used a tapered reamer I had lying around).

Anyway, so don't try and put the droplink back on last - it doesn't work. The lower balljoint is quite tricky to do IMO as there seems to be an issue with getting the balljoint into and out of (particularly out of) the hub clamp lug, which needs some combination of brute force, alignment and levering the clamp apart with a screwdriver unless you have some sort of special tool to force the two apart!

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How Not To Change A Lower Front Balljoint