Can anyone tell me the correct procedure for replacing the lower ball joints on my 1996 xj6? What kind of puller do I need to separate it (pickle fork or press)? Should I remove the rotor and wheel assemble to access the joint?
Great car 107,000 miles on it

Beblos

 

I have recently had to do mine at 111000 miles. Annoyingly, there isnt enough room to get a socket or spanner on it without undoing the top balljoint but you can then lean the upright forward and undo it with a socket. I used the trick of leaving the nut a few turns on and a couple of knocks with the hammer.

 

Normally you need to support the lower spring pan to take the load off the joint. As speedy says, you might have to also release the top joint to make room for the nut spanner, but I would have thought a decent ring spanner would fit, but if speedy has done the job then he is the expert, I have only done a Series 3 which can use the same joint.

As regards breaking the taper, I always used a kosher ball-joint splitter which has a fork with a scissor action arm that is tensioned up to the joint top with a bolt. Once it has a good load on it a few bashes of a hammer normally frees it up.

Normally one does not have to take off the disc and caliper, but you definitely have to take the road wheel off.

Anyway, why not replace all the joints, top and bottom, they must all be on the way out by now.

 

Thanks for the reply. I was able to use a wrench to get the nut off the lower ball joint without undoing the upper. However, my angle of smacking the nut on the threads with a four pound sledge would not break the joint loose even though I had taken the 4 bolts off of the cover retainer off the bottom of the joint. I guess I'll rent a splitter for the upper and get a straight shot on the lower joint once it is under the splitter's pressure to break it loose. Let me know what you think. Thanks, B

 

Taking the four bolts off the lower will not loosen off the taper, you need the special splitter even more than the top joint. Get the taper under tension with the splitter then use the hammer. You might also need a bit of heat, too.

 

A little late on this one but separating the joint from the hub was as easy as turning the wheel and then using the ball joint fork. it dropped out in two smacks. turning the wheel unloads the bottom joint for removal.