8 replies to this topic

[il-barba]

what do you use as the solid piece which goes instead of the rubber? i dont seem to find anything which is good

[dklawson]

Sorry, I don't follow your question. Can you elaborate a bit?

[il-barba]

ah yeah im sorry.

when removing the upper ball joint (not the steering rack one). the haynes manual tells you to insert a wedge into where there is a piece of rubber. so that the spring remains compressed i think. what do you use as a wedge because i cant seem to find anything to put in there

[Big_Adam]

You mean so the top arm stays up?

If so you need not bother. With the car jacked up when you realse the top ball joint it will fly down (careful not to rag on the brake lines).

[il-barba]

my hub is being compressed by the lower arm and top arm. ive released all nuts but it is not coming off. i need to somehow jack the wheel, leave the upper arm up and when i release the jack it will separate from the hub and then i could easily get off the lower part.

i think i need to take pics tomorrow

[Big_Adam]

Hmm, when ever I do it now all the parts hit the deck. Ok I have to push the hub down to get the top joint out but it all works.

[dklawson]

I'm still confused. It sounds like you guys are talking about the knuckle joints not the ball joints.

I used a spring compressor on the rubber suspension cone to remove the load from the upper arm. With the road wheel off you should be able to use a ball-joint-separator to free the steering hub casting and drop it down. This will remove the remaing constraints on the upper suspension arm so you can move it downward to remove the knuckle joint. If you can't get enough downward travel of the upper arm, you may need to remove the 1/4-20 (7/16 AF) bolts securing the upper arm pivot shaft to the car along with the big nut at the other end of the shaft. After removing those you can remove the upper arm pivot shaft and that will completely free the arm so you can get the knuckle joint out.

[syholl]

I'm confused as well.

If indeed you are doing the balljoints, then it does help to remove the small rebound buffer that is in place to stop the upper suspension arm from hitting the subframe.

What i usually do is jack the car up and remove the wheel, and then using a second jack i lift the hub up, so that the suspension is back where it should be. You can then remove the rubber wedge and replace it with something solid. I always use a spare 3/8th extension bar. These fit nicely in the gap. Now you can lower tha hub on the second jack. The extension bar will now help to keep the suspension from dropping fully.

This now means that when you split the ball joints with the splitter, the top arm is high enough up for you to be able to release both ball joints completely from the upper and lower arms.

[il-barba]

i think i got the answer i needed, thanks. all i have to do is go try it.