I'm picking up a lower suspension arm later as my punto failed mot with worn ball joint. I'm going to do the work myself later today with the guide of the haynes manual. Is it an easy job, anyone got a step by step, also in terms of specialist tools is a ball joint separator the only one needed?

cheers

Hi mate,

yea its dead easy, and as you say only "specialist" thing you'll need is the ball joint separator, although you can get away with a crow bar etc.

quick step by step, but can go into more detail if needed:

1. Jack up car and remove wheel
2. Undo 13mm(iirc) nut that hods the ball joint to steering knuckle
3. Undo the bolts securing the anti roll bar bush to the track control arm, and the next one along that mounts to the chassis
4.Undo the rear 19mm bolt securing the rear of the track control,arm to the chassis.
5. Undoe the front bolt that secures the track control arm to the chassis.
6. Place ball joint splitter in between ball joint and steering knuckle, and wack with a hammer (depending on type of splitter)

remove track control arm!

Think that all of it.

Hope that helps,
Alan

cheers pal,

Is a Y shape splitter okay to use or is it better to get one of the other types?? Also in the haynes manual it says something about not tightening some of the bolts right up until the road wheels are on is this correct? and how do you manage this with car on ground?

Hi mate,

Y splitter will be fine.

With regards to tightening the bolts on the ground, yea its only the 19mm rear bolt and smaller front bolt that secure the track control arm to the chassis that need to be tightened on the ground. Theres plenty of access to them. Make sure they are done up fairly tightly though before you lower it to the ground and then nip them up. To be honest, technically you shoudl do it this way, but i havent before with no adverse effect, but it is the correct procedure.

Alan

You might find that you ruin the balljoint pinch bolt as it may be corroded in place. Also watch out for the two 13mm bolts that attach the anti-roll bar to the lower arm. The bolts are fairly cheap from the dealer, but don't expect them to be in stock.