Lower suspension arms-replacement

[bl52krz]

Originally Posted by JeffD

Still in 2 minds whether to tackle this job myself but did a bit of "research" today...

Here's my arm and bush for the driver's side (bush is not on obviously)




Had a look in the manual and it appears to be quite straihtforward




These are the 2 balljoints that I presume I need a ball joint splitter for???






And the dreaded rear bush bolts which I need an 18mm flexible ratchet spanner for?




Looks like a bearing puller should remove the bush




Need to think something up for putting it back thouh




Not sure what this is that came with the arm - a temporary protector of some sort???



Any advice welcome. My main concern is how easy the balljoints are to pop off plus getting those bush bolts in. Workshop manual seems to imply it just all fits together without any pieces having to manipulated into place etc

you do not need anything to pull the rear rubber bearing off.it will come off by pulling it off. should be a straight forward job to do apart from the two bolts on the rear bearing. please let us know how you get on.

[David Lawrence]

Originally Posted by bl52krz

you do not need anything to pull the rear rubber bearing off.it will come off by pulling it off. should be a straight forward job to do apart from the two bolts on the rear bearing. please let us know how you get on.

getting the bush back on is easy, just use a bit of fairy liquid and it will slide right on. No tools needed

Be doing mine today also.

[JeffD]

That sounds great - I was going to buy a bearing puller. Take some photos and let me know how you get on - not sure whether I'm doing mine today - might let you be the guinnea pig! LOL

[David Lawrence]

Originally Posted by JeffD

That sounds great - I was going to buy a bearing puller. Take some photos and let me know how you get on - not sure whether I'm doing mine today - might let you be the guinnea pig! LOL

Job done. I started out well, taking photos as I went but as I work alone this soon became impossible. There is barely room to get a spanner on the rear bush bolts let alone get a camera in as well

There were no difficulties apart from the main bolt in to the subframe which needed a lot of hammering to free it. My sequence of jobs was:

1. Turned the wheels on full lock, still on the ground to take the nut off the drop link and disconnect it from the roll bar.
2. Jacked it up and took the wheel off
3. Got a 6 sided socket on either side of the hub ball joint and unfastened the nut. Turned the bolt head 45 degrees to crack the rust off it then tapped the both out.
4. Crow bar under the hub to lever the ball joint out of the hub
5. Big breaker bar and an impact socket to take the big nut off the ball joint in the sub frame, then popped the nut on the end of the thread and started hammering on it to free it, but it wouldnt come
6. 18mm ring spanner on the front bolt of the rear bush, cracked it loose then slid the 18mm ratchet spanner on for easier loosening. Access from under the arch.
7. Same for the back bolt except access from under the car.
8. With the rear bush un-bolted had a few more whacks at the ball joint in the sub frame and this time it came out.
9. Wrestled the lower arm out from under the car. That was a bit tricky because the drive shaft seemed to be sitting a bit low restricting how high I could lift the arm to free the end of the ball joint, so I took a bit of weight off the hub with the jack to raise it a few inches, then it came out.
10. Used a bearing puller to start the rear bush mioving off the old lower arm then pulled it the rest of the way by hand
11. Lubricated the rear bush with fairy liquid but manouvered the new arm in to place under the car first to avoid difficulties getting it in like i had getting the old one out
12. With the lower arm in roughly the right place I went under the car again and slid on the rear bush. I re-used the old bush as I only changed it last year.
13. With the ball joints still loose enough to move around a bit I wrestled the bush bolts until I got the front one started. Then I returned to the ratchet spanner to nip the front one down, then tapped the bush around until the back bolt would start
14. Once the bush was in the right position with the bolts fairly well in I nipped up the ball joints in the sub frame and the hub.
15. After that it was just a case of going round all the bolts and tightening them all up properly. Couldn't get a torque wrench on the bush bolts but I could with all the rest.
16. Last job was to put the car back on its wheels, to manouver the anti roll drop link back in to the anti roll bar and torque it up.

Dont think I missed anything. All the rattles gone now when on rough roads, and no play at all at the wheel, so Quite satisfied with my mornings work.

[JeffD]

Hi David thats really handy - well done! :-)

WHy dont you post up the few pics you did take - I think if we can cobble a library together of all th epics it would make a great howto.

How long do would you say it took start to finish?

[David Lawrence]

Originally Posted by JeffD

Hi David thats really handy - well done! :-)

WHy dont you post up the few pics you did take - I think if we can cobble a library together of all th epics it would make a great howto.

How long do would you say it took start to finish?

It took me 4.5 hours, including replacing the drop link on the same side. 15 minutes of that was getting the tools out, and finding the right ones, and 30 minutes was cleaning up afterwards, so you could do it in 3.5 hours with good preparation and good luck freeing all the bolts off.

If you have a decent inspection pit or a ramp, you could do it quicker again. I must have spent a good 20 minutes wriggling in and out from under the car to get at those rear bush bolts and 10 minutes trying to get the circulation back in my legs.

The 2 hardest parts of the job today were freeing the ball joint out of the subframe, and the slow tedious job of getting the bolts out of the rear bush. Its not hard its just that the spanner only moves a few degrees each turn, hence why a ratchet spanner is a great idea.

[JeffD]

Is this the balljoint you mean? Do you think a balljoint splitter would help? Also, whats it like putting it back in?



Sounds like ai do need a nearing puller tool - thankfully I have some ratchet spanners.

[David Lawrence]

Originally Posted by JeffD

Is this the balljoint you mean? Do you think a balljoint splitter would help? Also, whats it like putting it back in?



Sounds like ai do need a nearing puller tool - thankfully I have some ratchet spanners.

You dont have to have a bearing puller. You can get away with resting the bush over an open vice with the arm hanging down the middle then just tap down on the end of the arm that sticks through. I used a puller because I've got one, but its not essential.

Not sure about a ball joint splitter. Yes, you are showing the right one, the one with a 22mm nut on it. The gap between the two parts is quite wide, and also it seems to sit at a funny angle, not sure a splitter would do any better than a big hammer on the end of the pin.

It goes back in very easy, but I found it easier to manipulate the arm if you get it in position before pushing the bush back on. It's possible the pin might start turning when you try to tighten the nut, so you'd need a 22mm ring spanner and an allen key if that happens. It didn't happen on mine.

[bl52krz]

Originally Posted by David Lawrence

It took me 4.5 hours, including replacing the drop link on the same side. 15 minutes of that was getting the tools out, and finding the right ones, and 30 minutes was cleaning up afterwards, so you could do it in 3.5 hours with good preparation and good luck freeing all the bolts off.

If you have a decent inspection pit or a ramp, you could do it quicker again. I must have spent a good 20 minutes wriggling in and out from under the car to get at those rear bush bolts and 10 minutes trying to get the circulation back in my legs.

The 2 hardest parts of the job today were freeing the ball joint out of the subframe, and the slow tedious job of getting the bolts out of the rear bush. Its not hard its just that the spanner only moves a few degrees each turn, hence why a ratchet spanner is a great idea.

do you think that you should have the tracking checked?

[David Lawrence]

Originally Posted by bl52krz

do you think that you should have the tracking checked?

My tyres are due replacement soon, so I plan to leave it for now. Funnily enough when i had the car from new, the passenger side tyres used to scrub a bit on the outer edge, but when i replaced that sides lower arm this problem went away and wear reduced, so I will monitor the tyres for the next month. It handles fine,doesnt feel any different and doesnt pull to the side, so if the tyre wear doesnt increase I'll not bother.

I'd probably get it done if I could find anyone around here who could be trusted, or were recommended by someone on here, but all I've found was Kwik Fit and I've only ever had experience of them making the tracking worse, so won't be rushing back. They did my Rover 218 just after new tyres and the tyres were bald after 1000 miles.