Ball joint help needed on lower control arms
 

Ok so I finally got my pair of new lower front control arms. I would really like to get them installed soon so I can get rid of the rattling noises and get my car aligned. I went to the car parts store and rented a ball joint tool, but I have never worked with a ball joint before and not sure how the x-type's work. The tool I got is a press that looks like a big c-clamp, with different size cylinder fittings. He asked me if it is a pressed ball joint and I said I think so but I'm not sure. I thought I could do it with a pickle fork but the ball joint tool seemed better suited for ball joints. Anyways, I am just wondering what I need to do to separate the old ball joint and install the new arm with the new ball joint. Also wondering how much torque for the new control arms.

You need the fork. Its simple actually. Once you get the bolt out of the hub, it has a 50 or 55 torque bit and a 15mm or 17mm nut. I can't remember the exact sizes, you then just push/hammer the fork between the hub and the ball joint and pop it out. The hard part is getting the arm low enough to get the ball joint all the way out.

The best way I found to take the lower control arm off is to loosen the tie rod end nut, put a jack under the tie rod end and lift up to put some pressure on it, smack the side of the joint with a hammer and that pops the tie rod end out.

After that, remove the 4 bolts holding the subframe on that side of the car, and take out the lower ball joint nut.

Once it's all loose, you should have enough room to lift up on the ball joint, (it's not a press fit so you don't need any special tools) and with the subframe loose you'll have enough room to get the control arm bushing bolts out.

It's going to take a few pry bars or long screwdrivers and some cussing but it will work.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Dang it, I asked for the pickle fork tool first but they gave me the ball joint press tool instead. It sounds like I have a lot of work to do this weekend. I was thinking about doing my thermostat first but maybe I should do the control arms and get that situated and get it aligned. Otherwise it will be another week of bad alignment and rattling suspension.

The freaking ball joint is not fitting back into the hole. I have been working on it for like 4 hours.

Spent probably 7 hours out there today on one control arm. Ran in to a couple pretty big problems. Getting the old one out wasn't actually that tricky. Wiggled it a little with the dropped subframe and got it out. Didn't have the picklefork so I rigged up a wrench as one with a hammer. Putting the new control arm in was a whole 'nother story. The ball joint was being a pain in the neck. I was expecting it to be rather easy and just slip in the socket, but it turns out ball joints are very tight by nature and people recommend putting them in the freezer overnight. So I'm having a hell of a time getting the ball joint in, it's not fitting in and the boot starts coming off so I'm trying to fiddle with that and get it back on, then I kept forgetting to put the metal plate on top of it before I try putting it in, so I had to undo the control arm like 3 times. I tried dropping the car and using the car weight to push in the ball joint. Didn't help. Had the bolt in the ball joint because I was going to bolt it up when it popped in. Well it got stuck so I unbolted it out with the star tool and it totally dethreaded the entire bolt!!! So I'm like fuuuuuu....... Almost freaking out that my car is ruined, thinking about getting it towed out without the wheel on. Thinking how much it could cost to fix. Need a new bolt the same size from the auto parts store, if they have one. So I go about trying to rethread the nut back on the bolt. It's a bitch but little by little I make progress. I probably work on it an hour and a half and actually rethreaded the grooves back by bolting on and off the nut. Put it back in, start bolting everything up, and the two little subframe plate bolts wont go back in and have a couple chunks in the threads. So I mess with it for a half hour. Finally they thread back in. Forget the wheelwell cover. Take it for a test drive, passenger side is quiet and feels new, other side still clanking. Success... Put the wheelwell cover back on, put the tire on, pack up my tools and called it a day just before sundown. It was a very sketchy project but I learned some stuff in the process. Almost messed up my new control arm. Was worried about the bushings and ball joint getting messed up but it looks like it's alright. Took a lot of energy out of me. Still have the other side to do but it should go faster, then get it aligned.

OMFG that sounds terrible dude. You should have just paid for the install at this point. Here I am just ripping 'round town shits workin great. I have sympathy for you pal. I hope the rest goes better for you!

Wow, sounds like you had a tough day yesterday. Hopefully the other side will go much better. It only took me about an hour to swap mine out so there is hope in sight. This may sound obvious, but just in case, don't put the ball joint bolt in until it's back fully seated in the hole.

Good luck.

Yea today the other side went much more smoothly. Had a little bit of trouble getting the big main bushing bolt back in the bushing, but besides that, everything else went smoothly and took about 3-4 hours altogether. I thought I had it all back perfect but when I took it for a test drive the drivers side I just did was still making that clunking sound over potholes. The passenger side was too a little but not as much. I went back over it and torqued down everything again, double checked all the bolts, torqued the subframe bolts fully. Took it for another test drive and still getting that bumpy sound over rough roads. I still need an alignment but I am also just starting to think that is how the h&r springs sound with sport shocks. Maybe they are just stiffer and that is normal. I don't think anything else is wrong with the car. It's been driving fine. I don't know if an alignment will help with the bumpy noises any, maybe some. Not sure what else would be wrong with it.

How are your swaybar/anti roll bar bushes and link arms? Very little obvious wear in the bushes allows a very noticeable knock on rough roads and speed bumps. The bushes are awkward to change without dropping the subframe, but it can be done with patience/determination!

They are probably pretty worn out. I am hearing a lot of knocking over bumps and potholes. It wasn't noticable before on my old springs but I think with the stiffer set-up the sway bar has become a lot more noticable. I just had the subframe dropped, I should have changed them then, but I wasn't aware that they were the problem. I assumed the noise had been coming from the control arms, so I went ahead and replaced those because I damaged one of the bushings during the strut install. I was surprised to find a lot of the noise was still there afterwards, but it does drive and turn smoother now. On the sway bar bushings, are you referring to the two center bushings the bar goes through and the end link arms?