Control Arm Replacement

[llll1l1ll]

Since I have a busted ball joint in my right control arm, I figured I might as well replace the whole thing.

IIRC, ball joints are normally pressed in. Well, I do not have access to a machine press.

The control arms I see usually come with the joints pressed into them already; however, when I put them on the car, do they need to be pressed in there, as well?

Best,

Pete

[McGyver]

nope, undo the outter ball joint, the tie rod, the inner ball joint, and the bracket and thats it. just make sure that you dont put the bracket on the spindle backward! Oh, and you should also change your control arm bushings while you're at it. check out pelican parts, they have a good illustrated writeup that i used when i did mine.

[JGood]

Make sure you get Lemforder control arms. Well worth the extra money. You'll kick yourself when you have to replace the Meyle arms in 2 years.

[Aptyp]

If you decide to do it in Greensboro, I have a special tool to make job easier. Make sure you get good arms, and not ebay ones. I have another set still laying around, I'm pretty sure.

[llll1l1ll]

Will probably tackle this once winter kind of goes away. I did some work on Friday and all my tools were below freezing, so I was basically holding ice for 2 hours.

Edit: Thanks again, Rev!

[Jaxx_]

just did this at an NCEuro meet, on a 325. The hardest bolt to get to was the one near the exhaust manifold, to the subframe. Ended up dropping the subframe to get to the bolt. No wrench was really able to get at it.

[llll1l1ll]

Hmm... I have a rather large stock of various wrenches. I also have a u-joint piece with a couple of extenders.

I've taken a control arm off before. I'm more concerned about it going back on. For some reason, I thought I had to press the ball joints into the car.

[llll1l1ll]

One more question:

other than the control arm bushing, what other bushings will need to be/should be replaced when I change out a control arm?

Won't I have to knock loose a few ball joints on the tie rod?

Edit: I am not trying to do the control arm, and then since I disconnected it from one piece have to replace that piece, too, since I didn't use the right tool or whatnot.

[StereoInstaller1]

only rubber under the car are the CABs

[nrubenstein]

Get yourself a pickle fork. Old control arms can be a huge pain in the ass to remove.

Installing them is easy - shove through the hole and torque them down.

[PeaveyBassist]

Do yourself a favor. Save the pickle fork and get one of these.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=99849

It will save you a shit ton of time, and it doesnt rip the boots on the ball joints. Its MUCH nicer than a pickle fork. However on the inner ball joint, you'll have to use a pickle fork and ruin the boot but generally the only time you need to remove that one is when you replace it. You'll like having that^^ tool later!

[llll1l1ll]

Twenty bucks isn't bad. I do have a pickler, though.

Wouldn't the new control arm come with new ball joints, though? Particularly the ones that connect to the frame/subframe and tie rod.

[JGood]

This is how a new control arm comes:



Both ball joints come installed. You just put it in place and tighten the nuts. Nothing to it.

You will need new bushings. I'd recommend upgrading to at least the stock M3 bushings:




This is the stock style:




To get the old bushing out, just cut the center part out by cutting through the rubber (sawzaw, hacksaw, or whatever). Then cut the outer metal sleeve with a hacksaw or sawzal (careful not to cut into the lollipop), then peel that outer sleeve out with a pliers.

The new ones need pressed into you old 'lollipop' brackets with a vice.

This is the lollipop:






The tie rod ball joint is the only other ball joint on the car, and that won't need replaced if you are careful. I broke a few swaybar link bracket bolts when removing control arms, so be prepared for that.

[llll1l1ll]

Look at you comin' in with all this information! Thanks a ton!

I was just going to replace the right side, as the left seems okay; however, I'll take a peek under the car and if things look iffy, I'll go ahead and replace the left one, too. Which means then I'll go ahead and upgrade to M3 bushings.

Will also buy a spare swaybar link bracket bolt in case things go awry.

[JGood]

Two more things:

There is a certain way the bushing needs to go into the lollipop, do a search here, I forget off the top of my head.

The new bushings can be pushed onto the control arm by hand, but you'll need to put some muscle and weight behind it. Use dawn dish soap.