I'm in the midst of refreshing the front end in my 1996 XJS (AJ16 - 4.0L engine). I've read Daxters tutorial in the How-To section on steering rack replacement. So far so good on that...


My issue is replacing the ball joints and upper control arm bushings. I'm wondering - do I need to compress the springs and remove the front shocks to access the ball joints and upper control arm bushings? I'm hoping someone who has done this work on the same or a very similar vehicle can offer some guidance.

Any/all help is much appreciated.

 

The safest way to do this is to:

1. Raise the front of the car
2. Use the correct spring centre to subframe tower spring compressor to just take the tension out of the spring.
3. Then undo the top balljoint, CAREFULLY noting the shims each side as these control the castor angle and be sure to replace them as they were.
4. The top wishbone arms can now be removed and the bushes replaced.
5. You do not need to touch the shocks at all.

It is perfectly possible, if you are brave and VERY VERY careful, having removed the road wheel, to lower car so the bottom wishbone rests onto a jackstand, thus compressing the spring. BUT the car must be totally blocked immobile and the stand the hub is resting must totally secure and strong enough. I also suggest you use only OEM quality balljoints, Lemforder make, cheap ones last no time at all.
Greg

 

Hi Dave , just to add to Gregs accurate advice , firstly when I did ball joints I did not use a spring compressor . I did one side at a time making the car more stable , I left the car jack in place after removing the wheel , and then used another jack under the spring carrier which gave me more flexibility to remove and replace ball joints by using the weight of the car to adjust the position , I think this will be more easily understood when doing the job. Obviously you will need to turn the wheels to full lock , I would suggest that removing the brake calliper will make the job easier , but not necessary , if you do remove the calliper have some wire or rope to tie it up over the shockie .
Remember to put the bolts holding the ball joint to the wishbone with the heads facing forward .
You will also need a ball joint separator , beware the joints will come apart with a bang , but will only make you jump , maybe .

 

For the sake of clarification , I use a hydraulic trolley jack to lift the car and a wind up jack under the spring carrier the trolley is ok for fine adjustment jacking up and quicker , but comes down to suddenly , wind up gives finer movement that you can see .
You will need the wire or rope even if you do not remove the calliper. lastly I did one ball joint at a time .I think that's it , be nice to find out how you get on .

 

John
I think Dave was posting about the top BJs only. If he wants to do the bottom, then I believe that spring removal is the only way to do it. The bit of your post that I have highlighted in red, I think applies only to doing the bottom BJs, but not the top ones.
Greg

 

I have the AJ16, and have removed and replaced both ball joints. The spring does not need to be removed.


Basically, set the front of the car on jacks and use a hydraulic jack under the spring pan to support the assembly. Trust me, it'll make sense when you get there.


I did change one ball joint at a time, and I only used Lemforder ball joints. I was unable to separate the ball joints using a pickle fork, so I recommend renting a generic tool from your parts store to pop them off. Something like this is what you're looking for: Sears.com


You will want a wire hanger nearby to help support the caliper.


Make sure you take advantage of the access and pull out the ABS Sensor and give it a thorough cleaning.


It was an all weekend affair the first time I did it, now I can swap out all four ball joints and all four upper arm bushings in half a day. The only other piece of advice I can give you is keep track of the shims. You'll be working a lot with the 10mm, 13mm and 14mm sockets and wrenches.

 

Thanks, all for your advice.

I'll admit I'm nervous about this job, since I'm not necessarily a great DIY mechanic. I was able to remove the steering rack, sway bar, sway bar links and bushings, but really wondered about the control arm bushings and ball joints (I bought Lemforder upper and lowers).

When I looked at it, I got the impression that I needed to compress the springs. I did jack the front end up and have jack stands under both sides at the factory jack point (I raised 1 wheel at a time by jacking each side up under the spring pan, since my jack is small enough that once it's under the car, I couldn't move the handle up or down to raise the car).

I can't really tell if the control arm bushings or ball joints are bad. One sway bar bushing was somewhat rough looking (I think from ps fluid leaking from the rack) and one looked like new. I really don't think my sway bar "ends" needed replacing - the links are simply a steel rod with threaded ends. Even the rubber bushings were fine - they looked a bit squished out of shape, but the rubber was pliable and not in the least weathered. I don't think those really needed replacing, either, but the mechanic who replaced my rear wheel bearings told me they needed replacing. Not sure he knows what he's talking about...

I may put off the control arm bushings and ball joints and just get my car back on the road sooner vs. later. I'll put the poly bushings on the new steering rack, of course add the new tie rod ends to the rack and replace the sway bar parts. That, coupled with an alignment and 4 new tires, should greatly improve the road manners and stop the leaking that has been appearing on my garage floor (for now!).

What do you guys think - is my plan sound, or should I just take a deep breath and see what happens? Like I said, I am nervous, and I'm far from a DIY expert.

 

I suspect that the work you're about to do with the steering rack should be more difficult than the ball joints. I haven't done the steering rack, but from what I've read, it's way more complicated than the ball joints.


When you open up the front suspension, you can easily tell what everything does and how it's supposed to come apart. OK, maybe not immediately, but it should make sense to you.


I'm not sure that the sway bar ends do much, so replacing them shouldn't really ever be mandatory. I'm sure someone else will chime in. I think your interpretation of what they are and what they do is spot on.


If you're in there, and have to do an alignment anyways, just get the upper control arms and ball joints. It really isn't that tall an order. There's absolutely no monkeying around with the spring. I promise.


If you decide to change them later, you'll have to do another alignment.

 

So much good advice , it's what I like about this forum . To Greg , as another member has confirmed you do not need to remove the spring but it does appear that Dave M is only looking at the upper but I would think that "if" the upper needs replacing the bottom probably does as-well and I would" kill 2 birds with one stone" .The only way I know for a DIY is a big lever to try to detect any movement in the joint even the slightest feel of movement you have a worn ball joint , note that on the lower joint the cap can be removed and a shim taken out ,retighten the cap swivel the hub there should only be a very slight drag . Sorry to go on and on but be careful with the cap bolts , small heads easy to round off , keep in mind that the removal of shims is not to compensate for major wear . If you do remove the cap check that grease can be pumped in . After saying all that do your ball joints need replacing I would ask myself how many miles has the car travelled and on what sort of roads and is the car steering ok .
Greg mentioned , do you need a separator for top joints , when I did mine , late in the day I could not get it apart after giving it a few taps with a mallet came out next morning and it was apart ! thought I would do the same with the other side , no go , I don't like to much crash bash and had to get separator which made the rest of the job easy . This job is not what I would call " gut busting " although I admit that I was able to work at a comfortable height as I have a hoist .
Greg stressed the word careful and rightly so keep your thinking cap on don't stick your head or your hands where they don't belong !.Lastly ( I bet someone is saying "thank goodness ) As I said in my first post to use a wind up jack under the spring carrier I also used a wood block about 4 x 4 as a back up just in case the jack slipped

 

Thanks, John. The car has 97,250 miles, but hasn't clocked more than 2,500 miles/yr. for the past couple of years. I can't say with certainty how it's been driven, but it seems like it's been treated well.


I do own a spreader like the one in Vee's picture- I used it to separate the tie rod ends so I could pull the steering rack.


Given that I do have the Lemfoerder upper and lower ball joints and a set of replacement rubber upper control arm bushings in hand, I suppose I should give it a go. My tool box isn't super deep, but I do have plenty of metric wrenches/spanners, including a set of ratcheting/gear wrenches, so I think I have the tools. I could borrow a spring compressor from the local auto parts store if that would help make the job easier - sounds like it wouldn't hurt.


If anyone has any sort of step-by-step tutorial, it would help immensely. I pretty much followed Daxters "How-To" sticky to get the steering rack out (thanks, Daxters!!).


I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for all of the advice - I very much appreciate it.

 

You mentioned 'killing 2 birds with one stone'.
Don't mess about with the front springs because they will kill you.
They were designed to keep the front of the car balanced under acceleration, cornering and braking: there is a whole lot of weight at the pointy end and the system is designed to be both responsive for the driver and comfortable for the passenger. There are 4 springs at the back, 2 at the front.
Taking it all apart 25 years later was not the top priority of the designers.

'I also used a wood block about 4 x 4 as a back up just in case the jack slipped'.
Good thinking, but; what is the provenance of the 4 x 4 piece of wood?
You are possibly handing over your safety from a mechanical device made by man (maybe some time ago) to something that used to be in a tree (maybe some time ago). Age, rot, termites, woodworm. That's just the guy that made the jack.

Don't ever sleep under your Tank.
There is no point taking all the measures to stop the car landing on you if you support it on a less than stable base.

Sorry, went all a bit 'elf and safety there, force of habit.
Just don't crawl under something that you can't crawl back out of.

 

Hi Steve , firstly it is obvious that you are concerned about a members safety as am I but thankyou for reinforcing that . I also do not like to mess with the actual springs.
There is no need to get under the car for this job and the block was not to protect myself but to stop the spring extending and sending the carrier to the ground which would have been a headache at the least .The jack never slipped but at one stage it was in the way and as the ball joint was already disconnected I lowered the suspension on to the block and moved the jack into a better position.
Also my wooden block didn't come from a tree I got it at the timber yard........ Just kidding .
If you know the guy that made the jack give him my sympathy I suffer with some of the same complaints (not termites or woodworm ).
DISCLAIMER :- NO BIRD WAS KILLED OR INJURED WHILST UNDERTAKING THIS WORK WITH A STONE OR OTHERWISE.
Back to Dave I am very pleased if I can help , as you have already purchased the parts I would go ahead and change them and not be concerned with the aspects that I mentioned (mileage etc ) . As I didn't use a spring compressor I can't comment on how much easier it would make the job , perhaps someone could advise , but as stated earlier i don,t mess with springs .
separate the upper ball joint before undoing the bolts retaining the ball joint itself this will leave the upper wishbone free to move with no tension from anything you can then replace the bushes . Obviously the jacks are all in place before commencing any of this work.
take your time Dave , i have a feeling that when your done you will say it was a "piece of cake". IF you have any concerns yell out , you can already see how many people like to help . Good Luck John

 

John, I think that on Dave's car the ball joints will be the sealed for life type that cannot be rebuilt. Separating the top BJ, you are quite right, my apologies; I forgot to say what I do: I loosen the nut holding the BJ conical into the upright a few turns, then adjust the spring compressor (or jack) so the spring is pulling the cone out, then a few sharp clouts with a hammer and it pops out! then recompress the spring and undo the BJ to wishbone bolts.
Honest disagreement: I still think doing the lower BJ without the spring held by a compressor up the middle is pretty dangerous! At the very least I think it is sensible to strap the spring coils and also strap it to the upper wishbones/subframe somehow.
Greg

 

Hi Greg , regarding how too , all any of us can do is advise on what worked for our selves and the expression " more than one way to skin a cat " comes to mind , jeez before any one jumps down my throat I did not skin any cats.
I usually mention that my xjs is an early model and when anyone points out a difference in a later model I appreciate it and I actually hope for it .In this case I did,nt mention model difference as I believed there would be no major changes .Still good to know that there are no nipples saves Dave for looking for them !
As far as spring compressor or not , I think of it as a matter of opinion not a disagreement and I am not a butt kisser but you post some very valid and helpful information as far as I am concerned it will never be an argument , nothing wrong with quizzing each other at times.
I can honestly say that I felt no danger from doing this job the way I did , but I have been working on cars for a very long time .If Dave wishes to use a SP for safety that's fine , having said that I feel there could be more problems if the SP equipment is unsuitable and the operator is not skilled with this equipment .I am hoping to get more feedback from others that have completed this job .In the mean time I hope we don't put Dave off , I still think of it as straight forward job .

 

Totally agree with you. The more opinions the merrier, and the OP concerned, on this or any other thread, can choose what he thinks is best. AFAIK, nobody in Australia has ever been accused of being a BK - except maybe your politicians if they are anything like ours!
Greg

 

Made quite a bit of progress today - replaced upper and lower ball joints, upper control arm bushings, sway bar links, link bushings and sway bar bushings.
Did encounter one issue; on the driver side lower ball joint, we had the nylock nut almost off when the ball started spinning. No amount of effort could stop it from moving, so we wound up removing the caliper, hub, etc. and cutting the ball joint stud to remove it. Very time consuming.
But, after that it was smooth sailing. Everything was as described - a nut here or there and she came apart fairly easily. Jacking the car up under the spring pans until I had separation from the upper control arm stops was the ticket - properly relieved the spring tension. One really great thing about a convertible - never driven in snow, so nothing was badly corroded. Actually made the job easier than expected!
Tomorrow is when the fun starts! Plan to reinstall the new rack, ps hoses and flush the ps fluid. Then it's off for an alignment and new tires.
Can't wait to drive this car! With what amounts to a new front end, she should handle nicely, although I have to admit that I'm not a real aggressive driver.
I'll still have my fair share of work to do - drive belts (I'll rely on Vee's excellent write up for that!!), oil pipe O-rings, valve cover gasket and finding the leak/leaks in the roof lift hydraulic system (the pump and electrical work but hydraulic fluid leaks out). Step by step...
More to follow - I know the rack re-assemble will be a bear, but I'm hoping we find our way through to finishing.
Thanks all for your help to this point - I'll hopefully have more good news tomorrow...

 

Thanks for the update Dave , glad to hear that so far it has gone to plan . looking forward to the next episode ..

 

Congratulations, a real success. make sure you get the alignment done by a good shop on a decent laser rig before driving her far. tell them that it needs 0.5 degree toe in; EACH side has to be adjusted separately; with the rack centralised.
Really well done Dave, as you have found, once you get stuck in, hey are quite understandable cars to work on.
Greg

 

Im assuming you mean that for TOTAL TOE and that the positive refers to IN?

http://www.jagrepair.com/images/TSB/...ifications.pdf

 

Correct, total toe in 0.5 degrees. But this must be achieved by having each side adjusted separately with the rack centralised.
Greg