Hi Everyone,

Started on Sunday late with the upper wishbone left and right bushing replacement.

History:
Watch the video from Rev. Good video!
Read up on the upper arm replacement bushing treads.
Went over to O'Reilly's Auto and rented the ball and socket press and Ball Joint separator tool.

Procedures:
1. Secure Jag.
2. Lifted and securly jacked frontend.
3. Remove tire and disconnected abs cable.
4. Used the Ball Joint separator tool. (2 hours and damaged the ball joint rubber)(Also tried the tapping up with hammer on the wishbone arms)
5. Removed Fulcrum shaft (Bolt holding the wishbone) (1 hours and had to use air hammer)
6. Removed old bushing and clean wish cleaned wishbone for rust.
7. Used Ball and socket press. (Do not use this product as recommend by the O'Reilly's Auto parts guys. It did not uniformly compress the bushings)
8. Took break and post for assistance on Jag forums.

Ok I have screw up the bushings, I believe. The metal disk on one of the bushings is warped. Ball Joint has 6 cuts.

Need some good advice on how to get the bushing from Motorcars LTD to work. Do I need to replace them with a different bushing?

I do not have a good press unless I go to Harbor Freight and pick one up. Additionally, if so which one is the best?

Pictures of the parts:
http://mcdowpictures.shutterfly.com/pictures/11
http://mcdowpictures.shutterfly.com/pictures/12
http://mcdowpictures.shutterfly.com/pictures/13
http://mcdowpictures.shutterfly.com/pictures/14



Thanks in Advance,
James

 

Will wait for Rev Sam to respond James. Sorry to see the ball joint gaiter got damaged, it might be ok for a year or so with just those cuts. I'd do them next spring, and focus on the bushings here.

 

I'm confused. Is that a picture of the old bushing or the new bushing? Because it looks like an old bushing. If that's the new one, I think you need to buy another new one. Sorry

The cuts in the ball joint gaiter don't look too bad. Get some rubber cement or contact cement and seal them up. They'll probably be fine. Obviously it would be best to have perfect gaiters, but you should be able to seal them up. Maybe you could even use a tire patch kit on them. Just make sure all of the dirt and grease is off before you try to seal them up. A bad gaiter isn't going to cause immediate suspension problems. Over time, however, it will let abrasive grit into the ball joint and the ball joint will start to wear out. If you seal it up, though, it won't make any difference that there was once a small cut in the gaiter.

 

I need help on the compression on the bushing into the wishbone arm.
Here are the correct pic of the parts:
http://mcdowpictures.shutterfly.com/pictures/12
http://mcdowpictures.shutterfly.com/pictures/11

 

They shouldn't be that hard to press in, you will need to clean inside the wishbone, they often corrode, failing that just use a vice, just make sure you use jaw protectors of some sort so you dont damage the bush

 

Like smoking, drinking and whistling at pretty girls?

 

That's the reason most techs don't use pickle forks, they always damage the boot (gaiter.) When you use the 'whack' method you don't hit the control arm/wishbones, you hit the knuckle where the ball joint stud passes through. You're trying to dislodge the taper fit of the ball joint stud when you hit it. And, you don't 'tap' it, you use a BFH (my preference is a 48 oz with a 20" handle) and give it a good whack (read: about as hard as you can possibly hit it, given the area you have to work in.) Several times, usually.

I'm going to guess you'll never be able to repair the boots, try stopping by a tire store or alignment shop and see if they have any boots from parts they have removed that will fit. It doesn't take much time for a little dirt and water to destroy a good joint, especially 'sealed & lubricated for life' joints.

 

I have to say that I observed exactly what Beav is talking about and it really works. The mechanic that did the suspension work on my 2005 XKR used the BFH method on each of the ball joints and it worked like a charm. I looked the knuckle over very carefully and there was no observable damage and everything went back together just fine. However, this method looks deceptively easy when the BFH is in the hands of an expert mechanic and I suspect if not carefully done one could end up doing a lot of collateral damage.

 

Sorry, Gameblaster. I got your PMs but I've been super busy at work (up 'til 3 AM busy). Everyone else gave good advice. I've never changed the ball joints, so I have nothing to add. Sorry...

 

From various threads on this topic, it sounds like pressing in new parts is difficult and time consuming and possible hard on our tools (Vises and 12 ton presses from Harbor Freight).

Has anyone tried bringing the parts to a Jag dealer to have them press those parts together? I would think it would be very quick and easy for them to do with their special tools and experience. It's all labor and letting the Service Mgr know that you'd like to pay their hourly labor rate for the time it takes to do the job might be the best route.

I have no idea if the dealership would decline the job or not but sounds like it's worth a try. Has anyone out there tried this route? When it comes time for me to do these repairs I will go to my Jag dealer to see if he will help out and will report my experience but right now, everything is good with the front suspension.

Tim

 

You may also try putting the wishbone in the oven for a while (to expand) and the bushing in the freezer (shrink) you would be surprised how much of a difference it makes.

 

The pressing in is the easy bit, just a large socket and a few taps with a hammer does the job, its the getting out that requires a press

 

Hi Everyone,

Thank you very much for the great advice.

I did get the driver front side bushing and ball joint replaced.

The problems where numerous and I will include the pictures later but simply put, the right tools make up for the time.

Used the ball socket loaner tool from O'Reily's auto parts store. While pressing out the ball socket I pushed the stem out of the ball socket.
I took it over to the local auto repair shop. They used a 20 ton press on the remaining ball socket. They took an hour and 15 minutes to complete the work. They had to cut an exhaust pipe to the same size as the inside ring on the ball socket. They also used torch to heat up the outside of the upper arm. They slowly pushed the ring out.

The Ball socket inserted with no difficultly.

Lessons learned:
20 ton press could do the bushing and ball joints more effectively than the tool from O'Reily's auto parts store.
Grease all the parts before pressing.
Be patient with pressing mistakes are easy to make with the press.
The mechanic stated the hit point was to move the boot, rubber shirt up and hit that part. That will force the upper arm out of the hole of the wheel assembly.

Pictures to follow.