(T) Ball joints on front suspension query

I was going throught the stages of changing my front bearing.

I took off the hub not, removed the track end ball joint, undid the strut..however the haynes makes no mention of the lower arm ball joint! I went to pop it, but the nut is stuck on the thread, and the threaded part just spins in the joint! Is this trashed now? I suspect it is, and am going to have go grind it off, to free the hub.

THe whole lower arm and hub are off now...so if it is foobar, and I cut off, can I just replae the joint, or do I need a whole new arm!?

Reason I'm askig is I've never worked with ball joints before adn may be making a stupis or obvios error....perhaps its supposed to spin, althoug the track end rod one didn't!?

On a more positive note, as I had to go to this extent of dismantlling, I have bought poweflex bushes and will be getting some superflex ARB bushed as well to compliment it

Cheers for any help

Kristian

OK, to partly answer my own question....the ball joint is part of the arm and cannot be ordered sepreatly between £40-55 for a new one locally..I will try eBay later though

Still wondering if it IS actually broken though, or if I'm doing something wrong and being plain dumb

Kristian

Sounds like someone buggered the tread at some point or the arm has been on for a long long time.

Fluffy does them for £19 or so, Shop4Parts for around £25.

The balljoint thread part is on a taper in the upright. If its spinning put a jack under the arm to lock up the taper and the nut will come off. Usually they only do this when re assembling.

I wish I had read that before i took the grinder to the arm!! After i ripped it apart i figured i had made a mistake and did something stupid....how annoying lol.

At least I won't make the same mistake again!

Cheers,

Kristian

Oops, never mind, we all learn by our mistakes Didn't read it earlier to post

If only I could have answered earlier - spinning ball joint is normal, I presume the mistake you made was to follow the Hayens to the word - they say to first undo the nut, but not take it off to protect the joint, then split the joint and then take off the nut. The problem is that as soon the joint clicks out it starts to rotate and the nut is difficult to undo... As said above, jack under the arm and a little fight.

To make you feel better - I knackered both my front arms joints on disassembly, cause I was too lazy too take the drive shafts out first and use proper splitter. Instead I used a fork splitter and messed up the joint rubbers. Costed me extra 160 euros... The knowledge gained - priceless

Cheers,

Woj

That does make me feel a little better I'm sure the Haynes are sometimes more trouble than they are worth though

Picked up the new arm today, and going to spend tomorrow cutting the bushes out of it, then I have to tackle the other side and then its onto driveshaft, box/engine removal

I burned the bushes out of the new arm, 5-10 minutes job each with a hand blow torch. Burn/soften them first, then they go out with a screwdriver. The remains of melted rubber sticking to the arm can be cleaned out with a paint thinner, just careful not to clean out the nice new paint (or whatever it is) from your new arm /Woj

That makes is sound quite painless Are there the metal sleeves to remove as well?

The one bush is hosed inside the arm, the other is mounted ON the arm, i guess I just cut that one off with a hacksaw?

Kristian

There no metal sleeves on front arms. Both bushes can be burned out, one is easier than the other, just don't remember which /Woj

EDIT: Really don't bother with a hacksaw, you will only scratch a shiny new arm

And have an extinguisher handy, safety first.

Its better to pull them out with a large socket or a piece of tube and a large bolt. It avoids throwing a load of localised heat into the arm, and you don't get exposed to burning rubber smoke with all sort of nasty toxins.

If you wan't a ball joint splitter then give me a shout.
Will make your life soooo much easier.

True, you have to be careful with that too.

Cheers Chris, I was actually using a 2 pronged hub puller, the screw type, which seemed to do the job ok. It's just i followed the Haynes and left the nut on, broke the joint, then couldn't get the nut off the rest of the way and thought I'd trashed it, as it was jist spinning the ball. Waited a day for some input, but once I got back after grinding it it was all too late. No probs though, I have a new one ready.

So with regards to the pic I've attached, which I was going to upload when i had problems, the bush at the top can be burnt or pulled out. I'll try the pulling with a large bolt first.

The lower bosh in the picture cannot be pulled as it has no hole though it, any tips? clamp in a vice and twist/pull, burn, or is there some other technique.



Hopefully the poly bushes will be here tomo, and I'm ordering polly arb mounts to hopefully arrive by the weekend, I can figure those out by myself though

Cheers again people