need some quick help

[jajou318]

Ok i started on my susp about an hour ago and now i am stuck.

I am replacing my control arms so i go to take them off and it should look like



but no. that bolt in the mid of the control arm has like this nasty dust shield cap looking thing. any tips on getting that off?

Also, I can't pull my damn tie rods or the control arm out of the strut. My tie rod puller is too big. any tips on taking that off...?

thanks,
Tony

[redcarbon]

I did this whole job a few months ago. I did some research and discovered on my own the following:

For the middle control arm nut, the drivers side was pretty easy, the passenger side was a bitch. I can't see your picture but there is a heat shield in the way on the passenger side, there's a fastener in the middle and on top of the heat shield, take that out and the heat shield comes off. I never put the heat shield back on because I didn't take the time to figure out how it goes back on, but that's another story.

Use some swivels or an extension to pry that control arm nut off, it gave me a hard time.

For the tie rods and control arm on the hub, I bought a ball joint fork (pretty large one, measure your ball joint so you don't get one that is too small) from the local auto parts store and pried the tie rod and control arm out. This only works if you are replacing the parts because it will destroy the boots. Or, if you are replacing the control arms and tie rods you can just bang on them with a hammer, not a rubber hammer, just smack it with a metal hammer, it will come out.

[Beej '86 325es]

Hmm. Well, regardless of of a dust shield on the bottom of that nut, you need to remove it from the top. The nut is on top of the subframe and is kind of difficult to get at.

I just pulled my tie rods and CAs...they were a b*tch. I bought the ball joint puller that Bav Auto sells for $40...doesn't fit. I rented a kit from Advance Autoparts, none of the non-destructive pullers fit. I ended up using a puller that is basically a spanner wrench, with an arm and bolt attached to it. I bent that bolt up pretty well, and got the ball joints to pop out with enough force that it could have crippled me.

[jajou318]

Yea my bad, i thought it was a dust shield of some sort but the bolt is on the frame.

I'll let someone else mess with replacing those.

As for suspension it is all done for now. :-D

[Jordan325iC]

sweet, let's see those pics jajou, immediately! The drop is complete!