Front Lower suspension arm woes

[Ross R75]

My new 75 is suffering from being a bit like a barge in the handling department. Very loose in the steering and not pleasant to drive. Having experienced this before and being no stranger to a set of spanners, I decided to change both lower control arms and rear bushes.

NIGHTMARE!!!

Outer ball joint pinch bolt snapped with no effort at all. Heated it up and drifted it out. Big thanks to Bryson cars in Prestwick who had new nuts and bolts with me inside of 18 hours. Inner ball joint wouldn't release for love nor money, even when dropping the weight of the car onto the stud. Finally got it off by hammering a fork type ball joint splitter in from the front of the car and then put a trolley jack under the end of the splitter and jacking it up. Rear bush housing came off without too many problems but couldn't lift the arm away from the subframe because there wasn't enough clearance under the drive shaft Finally wrestled the joint out of the arm and managed to remove the arm from the car.

Refitting. Putting a new rear bush on a new arm: Sounds easy, in fact there are plenty of guides on here stating that it "just slips on". Ahem, no. I used FAI arms and bushes because they're pretty decent quality and it took me a solid 30 minutes, a gallon of fairy liquid, every profanity known to man, and some judicious lump hammer work with a 34mm socket to drift the rear bush onto the arm. Then came the nightmare of wrestling the new arm over the subframe and getting the inner ball joint to seat properly That done, the pierce de resistance has to be lining up the rear bush to bolt it to the subframe. Torch, mirror, one partially stripped bolt, much swearing and plenty of manoeuvring and I finally got it bolted down.

All in all, an utter nightmare of a job. Took me about 5 hours with good tools and a fair bit of experience. That inner ball joint is totally unnecessary.
Thoroughly looking forward to doing the other side

[Astraeus]

Originally Posted by Ross R75

My new 75 is suffering from being a bit like a barge in the handling department. Very loose in the steering and not pleasant to drive. Having experienced this before and being no stranger to a set of spanners, I decided to change both lower control arms and rear bushes.

NIGHTMARE!!!

Outer ball joint pinch bolt snapped with no effort at all. Heated it up and drifted it out. Big thanks to Bryson cars in Prestwick who had new nuts and bolts with me inside of 18 hours. Inner ball joint wouldn't release for love nor money, even when dropping the weight of the car onto the stud. Finally got it off by hammering a fork type ball joint splitter in from the front of the car and then put a trolley jack under the end of the splitter and jacking it up. Rear bush housing came off without too many problems but couldn't lift the arm away from the subframe because there wasn't enough clearance under the drive shaft Finally wrestled the joint out of the arm and managed to remove the arm from the car.

Refitting. Putting a new rear bush on a new arm: Sounds easy, in fact there are plenty of guides on here stating that it "just slips on". Ahem, no. I used FAI arms and bushes because they're pretty decent quality and it took me a solid 30 minutes, a gallon of fairy liquid, every profanity known to man, and some judicious lump hammer work with a 34mm socket to drift the rear bush onto the arm. Then came the nightmare of wrestling the new arm over the subframe and getting the inner ball joint to seat properly That done, the pierce de resistance has to be lining up the rear bush to bolt it to the subframe. Torch, mirror, one partially stripped bolt, much swearing and plenty of manoeuvring and I finally got it bolted down.

All in all, an utter nightmare of a job. Took me about 5 hours with good tools and a fair bit of experience. That inner ball joint is totally unnecessary.
Thoroughly looking forward to doing the other side

Yes, they are good fun aren't they......NOT!

Chris

[madeupname]

5 Hours! . . . Luxury. One bolt took me a month. Seized pinchbolts...... maybe a year

[trikey]

My best time - 20 mins
My worst - 2.5 days

They can be a nightmare.

[Ross R75]

Nice to know I'm not alone in thinking this is a nightmare job.

[genpk]

This episode could be an exact quote of me yesterday!!
Done 3 or 4 of the arms now but normally the issue I've had is getting the outer ball joint on the hub to come out and the new one to line up and go in.
Not this time, the tapered ball joint would not move, tried heat ,bars ,leverage.
Finally got a large plumbers adjustable crescent and belted it in between the arm and sub frame- after and hour of belting it finally separated !!
I think if I had the right size pickle fork it might have been easier!!
Top this off with trying to re fit the existing polyflex rear bush with no press!!
Oh fun fun !!

[kc13661]

I am sorry to hear this, I have to say and it may be a case of driving all the time but we had no issues with handling.... I am gutted this is the case, if at any point I thought a car had an issue I would say so at the point of sale, so please do not think I have tried passing anything untoward onto another member.

I have always tried to be vigilant in the four years we had the car and fixed whatever needed doing, in fact only a few days before the sale another member/mechanic on here took the car away for the fitting of the new pulley, and he never reported any issues, not had Dave (Turbo Dave) our trusted mechanic when he had done MOT work.....

Again it saddens me to hear this

[Ross R75]

Originally Posted by kc13661

I am sorry to hear this, I have to say and it may be a case of driving all the time but we had no issues with handling.... I am gutted this is the case, if at any point I thought a car had an issue I would say so at the point of sale, so please do not think I have tried passing anything untoward onto another member.

I have always tried to be vigilant in the four years we had the car and fixed whatever needed doing, in fact only a few days before the sale another member/mechanic on here took the car away for the fitting of the new pulley, and he never reported any issues, not had Dave (Turbo Dave) our trusted mechanic when he had done MOT work.....

Again it saddens me to hear this

Keith,

Absolutely no suggestion of blame towards you matey. She's done 100k miles. This is totally to be expected. I think she is a brilliant car for the money and definitely very well cared for in your ownership.

Drivers side arm outer ball joint was a bit floppy, rear bush was OK but changed for a new one anyway. Passenger side outer ball joint also a bit floppy and rear bush completely shot, hanging on by a thread and the reason for the steering being sloppy. I've yet to fit the new arm on the passenger side as I'm still in the process of "persuading" the rear bush into position on the arm. I'll get it finished tomorrow evening.

Again, I'm delighted with this car and I see this as a wear and tear item that would be due replacement anyway. All part of the fun of ownership and well worth the effort. She'll be getting new front shocks and springs, new tyres, and a hunter alignment over the next couple of months.

[Ross R75]

Well, 2 hours of hammering yesterday and another 2 hours today. 5lb lump hammer, wd40, washing-up liquid and still haven't got the rear bush onto the arm. Tight isn't the word.

Back to banging and hammering.........

[EastPete]

Originally Posted by Ross R75

Well, 2 hours of hammering yesterday and another 2 hours today. 5lb lump hammer, wd40, washing-up liquid and still haven't got the rear bush onto the arm. Tight isn't the word.

Back to banging and hammering.........

Some after market arms are a bit too thick at the rear end, or have thicker seam/cast markings, that make it hard to get new bushes on. You could try filing them down a bit at the back, and I normally use silicone grease to help the new bushes on. I find this better than fairy liquid. KY jelly also works well, so I am told (it also helps put your rear bushes on your lower arms).

Pete