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General wishbones

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General wishbones

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oscar52

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There are a few threads on here regards wishbones, but I didn't find my answer - and have a conflict of opinion between the good old trusty men in white coats (Haynes Manual!!!) and a mechanic.


I know they need replacing, and have them here in a box - just waiting for next weekend. When tightening everything up, Haynes not to tighten fully until the wheels are back on the road surface (begs the question how the hell you get under the car.......


Mechanic says no need and can tighten fully whilst up in the air - likely to be using ramps and wooden blocks under the sills
 
You can access most of the bolts with the car on the ground and a long bar to make reaching them less of a hassle. The only one you can't access is the ball joint pinch bolt on the strut (well it's very awkward) and that can be tightened fully when the car is off the ground as it's not the tightness of the bolt that holds it all together it's the grove in the ball joint that is located by the bold just being there .
 
Tighten the bushings when car is ok the ground

Things like arb / ball joints can be done in the air

Its to stop the rubber been clamped on full droop - which when lowered rips the rubber bush out the rubber resulting in accelerating wear....
Letting rhe rubber twist to the resting place allows it to be happy when refitting.and longer life


Did a fieata mk6 and i did bolts up on ground from light to torqued factory spec
It was painful but its worth it


Ziggy


Ziggy
 
Thanks chaps.


Getting done this weekend as starting to knock quite badly now!
 
Well, that went well.

One side half done after SIX hours! Old one came out relatively easy. New Track arm was a bit*h to line up at the rear, then we struggled with the front, finally, when trying to line the ball joint up with the hub, we managed to pull the drive shaft out of the diff.


I can only assume that the when the drive shaft was replaced it wasn't fitted properly (wasn't done by me - paid a local garage to fit for me) as surely it cant be that easy to pull / pop the shaft out! I also think - personal opinion - that might have been the cause of some of the movement in the wishbone - both the ball joint and the rear bush were destroyed. Rear bush actually fel out of the old arm when we took it off.
 
Drives are just push in, it either fits or not, no such thing as it being half in etc.You pulled the whole suspension strut out and that eased out the drive, did much oil escape? If no oil check the oil level in gearbox as well after the job.
 
digger58 said:
Drives are just push in, it either fits or not, no such thing as it being half in etc.You pulled the whole suspension strut out and that eased out the drive, did much oil escape? If no oil check the oil level in gearbox as well after the job.
Click to expand...


Right ok, fair enough on the drive shaft ..... I didn't think it wuld have come out that easy.


No oil escaped, but I did check the gear oil not long ago - about a month / six weeks after topping it up and there was no change in level.


Will check the oil anyway when done ..... but didn't think after reading the posts here, and watching a couple of videos (including the one above) that doing wishbones was so bloody difficult!
 
Did the driveshaft come right out,ie could you see the splines? If it did and there wasn't any oil you are low in oil in the box unless you threw the car on it's side to do the job! Shouldn't be more than an hour job.
 
digger58 said:
Did the driveshaft come right out,ie could you see the splines? If it did and there wasn't any oil you are low in oil in the box unless you threw the car on it's side to do the job! Shouldn't be more than an hour job.
Click to expand...

Shaft came all way out so that I could see the three knuckles. Car currently is up on the one side (drivers)

Apart from the tight / rusty bolts old wishbone came out ok .... need few whacks as on the video ...... the biggest issue was getting the rear of the wishbone in the slot and lining up the bolt hole so the bolt would go into the subframe. Was after managing that and tightening them up, and then trying to put the ball joint in place that we managed to pull the shaft out.

I have a feeling the car may have been neglected or abused in a former life!
 
Ive done some car the drive shaft need you to blink and they fall out

Ive got 1 shaft on mine that refuses to come out with some heavy persuasion.. yet other i can pop out via cv boot

Ensure box is full of fluid as well (dribbles out via filler)

Also a i find a hammer helps alot when getting the new arms in and out

Ziggy


Ziggy
 
OK, drive separated at the joint, not at gearbox, make sure the joint goes back in properly and that the boot is secured.
 
Thanks again for all the posts, working next three days on a late afternoon shift (2-2) so will have another go at the weekend - and hopefully cooler then.


Any advice on getting the ball joint pin in the clamp? That's what caused the issues last night - tried brute force attack, and tried jacking the hub up slightly.


Also, with regards to the CV, does that simply push and click in or should there some type of spring clip on the inside. Also am assuming this would be easier to do first before finishing the wishbone.
 
if you are seeing three knuckles then that means the driveshaft has pulled out of the inner joint hence no oil leak
make sure no dirt gets in and that there is still a bearing on each finger and put it back in the hole
fasten the boot up with a quality tie clip and make sure it clears the gearbox housing
i would suggest to stop this happening on the other side you remove the steering arm from the hub as this gives you lots more leeway if you look at that video someones put up you can clearly see the driveshaft is strained and its only because its a diesel shaft that it didnt pop out
with regards pinchbolt
look at the other side of your car and see how much balljoint protrudes out the top of the hub this is where it needs to be if the bolt is to go in rather than halmmered in
for some reason on puntos the bolt goes in from the back but i was always taught these bolts go in from front for safety
 
s and b said:
if you are seeing three knuckles then that means the driveshaft has pulled out of the inner joint hence no oil leak
make sure no dirt gets in and that there is still a bearing on each finger and put it back in the hole
fasten the boot up with a quality tie clip and make sure it clears the gearbox housing
i would suggest to stop this happening on the other side you remove the steering arm from the hub as this gives you lots more leeway if you look at that video someones put up you can clearly see the driveshaft is strained and its only because its a diesel shaft that it didnt pop out
with regards pinchbolt
look at the other side of your car and see how much balljoint protrudes out the top of the hub this is where it needs to be if the bolt is to go in rather than halmmered in
for some reason on puntos the bolt goes in from the back but i was always taught these bolts go in from front for safety
Click to expand...

Sorry, wasn't very clear on my last post - happens often with me!

CV joint - understood.

With regards to the balljoint I was unclear .... I am / was struggling to force the arm down enough to lift the hub onto the ball joint pin - it was when trying to lift the hub to get the ball joint in the clamp for the pinch bolt that that the CV popped out.

One thing I have noticed on that video just now, is at the end, when putting the ball joint and hub together, the antiroll bar seems to have completely disappeared (which would make life easier I expect!)
 
oscar52 said:
Sorry, wasn't very clear on my last post - happens often with me!

CV joint - understood.

With regards to the balljoint I was unclear .... I am / was struggling to force the arm down enough to lift the hub onto the ball joint pin - it was when trying to lift the hub to get the ball joint in the clamp for the pinch bolt that that the CV popped out.

One thing I have noticed on that video just now, is at the end, when putting the ball joint and hub together, the antiroll bar seems to have completely disappeared (which would make life easier I expect!)
Click to expand...

The ARB is forcing the arm back up
its design is to restric movement based on the other side current state

So if they are both moving up - Say hitting a speed bump square - it move freely :)

However
if you hit a speed bump only on 1 side - like most people do - the ARB resists the twist - trying to reduce the body roll
hence the name Anti Roll bar

Detaching one side is gonna make it easier on the side your working on

When i do my Drive shaft removal - i undo the swivel hub bolts instead
As its easier to push the whole hub down to align the 2 pins back up vs trying to lift a shock and push an arm down

Ziggy
 
Ziggy122 said:
The ARB is forcing the arm back up
its design is to restric movement based on the other side current state

So if they are both moving up - Say hitting a speed bump square - it move freely :)

However
if you hit a speed bump only on 1 side - like most people do - the ARB resists the twist - trying to reduce the body roll
hence the name Anti Roll bar

Detaching one side is gonna make it easier on the side your working on

When i do my Drive shaft removal - i undo the swivel hub bolts instead
As its easier to push the whole hub down to align the 2 pins back up vs trying to lift a shock and push an arm down

Ziggy
Click to expand...

I did undo the ARB but only from the outer end under the arm (obviously really I suppose otherwise couldn't replace wishbone!)

I have done / seen the driveshaft being done in the manner you describe with undoing the hub bolts - it didn't occur to me I could have done that instead of trying to lift the hub / shock!

Ah well - live and learn ....... just made the refit job a bit easier!
 
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