Wishbone - how to crack the ball-joint.

Mike24 · 2nd January 2017, 16:38

Happy New Year to all!

Having replaced the droplinks (twice in two years) and the anti roll-bar bushes but still getting clunks from the front suspension over rough roads, I decided to bite the bullet and replace the front wishbones. I read a number of threads on the forum and the sticking point in all of them seemed to be cracking the taper on the ball-joint into the sub-frame, so it was with some trepidation that I embarked on the job. Sure enough, having undone the nut to level with the end of the threads and hit it for several minutes with a club hammer, nothing was shifting, so I started to look for a different approach. I put a bottle jack under the hub swivel joint and raised the suspension in order to increase the space between the wishbone and the sub-frame. I then found a hammer head that would fit into the gap

and then lowered the jack so that the coil spring was bearing down on the outer end of the wishbone. A few whacks with the club hammer and the taper cracked.

I decided to use the same technique on the other side in case the first one had been a fluke. Got the hammer head in position (as close to the ball-joint as possible for maximum mechanical advantage), lowered the jack, seven (I counted) whacks with the club hammer and the taper cracked!

The rest of the job was typically fiddly - getting the new wishbones in place was like one of those puzzles you get in Christmas crackers, and lining up the holes in bushes and getting the threads started took some time, but all in all, not too bad a job.

On inspection all four of the old ball-joints were a little loose, though not very, but the car is now much quieter over rough roads and the steering feels a little tighter too. Hopefully that's it for front suspension jobs - at least for now!

2nd January 2017, 16:38	#1
Mike24 Loves to post Rover 75 CDTI Auto Saloon Connoisseur SE Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Coventry Posts: 358 Thanks: 166 Thanked 67 Times in 56 Posts	Wishbone - how to crack the ball-joint. Happy New Year to all! Having replaced the droplinks (twice in two years) and the anti roll-bar bushes but still getting clunks from the front suspension over rough roads, I decided to bite the bullet and replace the front wishbones. I read a number of threads on the forum and the sticking point in all of them seemed to be cracking the taper on the ball-joint into the sub-frame, so it was with some trepidation that I embarked on the job. Sure enough, having undone the nut to level with the end of the threads and hit it for several minutes with a club hammer, nothing was shifting, so I started to look for a different approach. I put a bottle jack under the hub swivel joint and raised the suspension in order to increase the space between the wishbone and the sub-frame. I then found a hammer head that would fit into the gap and then lowered the jack so that the coil spring was bearing down on the outer end of the wishbone. A few whacks with the club hammer and the taper cracked. I decided to use the same technique on the other side in case the first one had been a fluke. Got the hammer head in position (as close to the ball-joint as possible for maximum mechanical advantage), lowered the jack, seven (I counted) whacks with the club hammer and the taper cracked! The rest of the job was typically fiddly - getting the new wishbones in place was like one of those puzzles you get in Christmas crackers, and lining up the holes in bushes and getting the threads started took some time, but all in all, not too bad a job. On inspection all four of the old ball-joints were a little loose, though not very, but the car is now much quieter over rough roads and the steering feels a little tighter too. Hopefully that's it for front suspension jobs - at least for now! Last edited by Mike24; 2nd January 2017 at 16:56..