ello! after lot of swearing and grazed knuckles, ive managed to remove my control arms. now i'm left with the controll arms with old joints in them. does anyone have a method of removing them without a press? also, squishing the new ones back in.... any ideas?? cheers dave
I have done mine - but on a 12 ton press, and they are a right pain in the ass to do with the right kit, you have no chance - send em off and save time and money -
hmmm, Already have the new ones waiting to go in. looks like I'll be getting up close to the grinder and hacksaw coolair want £40 per arm which contraty to their claim, is not the cheapest way of changing your ball joints. £160 +£20 postage - £60 for the surcharge = £120.... the joints only cost me £20 odd so I'm not going to pay someone £100 to do a bit of pressing. mind you they do come with shiny black paint on them... The old ones are getting beaten cut and battered out unless i can get access to a press. cheers Dave
I like your determination, but you won't get them out without a press prove me wrong and you can do mine.
Cut the "lip" off the ball joints - that's the bit the sticks out the most and is up against the arm. Cut almost through with a cutting disc, then lump hammer and chisel so you don't damage the arm. You have now made them easy for you local garage to press them out using a plain tube support against the arm. Pressing the new ones in also only requires the same tube/collet/whatever you call it. Your local garage should charge you about £20-£30 for all 4 and do it while you wait. Make sure they are understand that the slots in the joints MUST be lined up with the lugs on the arms. It's a straightforward job, so if they suck air and make a fuss, I'd try somewhere else.
What make are your ball joints? I fitted some Meyle heavy duty ones on mine and they were so stiff even afer 100's of miles, I replaced them with cheapy ones from Euro car parts which have been much better. I was told by VWH that meyle now make the joints slightly oversize and they can get squeezed if your joints haven't been replaced a few times before.
you will struggle without a press. like Zed said cut the lip off ,I did this to press them out so I could put a sleeve over it. I have press at work and used it so made job ok..they still go with a bang though before they shift. it easy for to go off centre going back in so like above said get local garage or engineering firm to do em if you don't have the tackle
hehe! that sounds like a challenge! Ive done a landrover a frame ball joint before but I used a lot of heat to pop the old one out. I'll see how I get on. cheers Zed! I'll shop the lip off
right, this is my plan. managed to pick up one of these jobies and along with a bit of heat I plan to squish them out. I'll let you know how i get on and how many bits the tool ends up in
Careful with heating the arms... They're suspension parts (obviously ) and as such, heating them could change the strength of them...
Yeah, I'm not thinking white hot or anything. I'm just heating the surrounding part of the arm. Most of the work is hopefully going to get done by the bucket of diesel they've been sat in for the last week
^^^ what everyone else said - send 'em off to someone who has the kit. I used Nick at wiltsfalia dot com - £120 for all 4 with lemforder ball joints, shot blast etch primer and 2-coat black. Well pleased with the job and Nick is uber friendly and helpfull. Lemforder is what VW-Audi use on their current cars.
well, nay sayers! the first one came out last night!! I ground off the lip because I dont have the right VW adapter. then placed the tool on it with the tubing and massive washer thingey and started to turn. it took some shifting. I had to use a little heat not glowing red or anything just warmed up. I think a lot of the problem with squashing the old ones out is really down to the rust and breaking the seal. Mine had been sat in diesel for a few days so I'm thinking that helped quite a bit. I'll post some pics of the next one I do.
Well bluething - I do admire your tenacity and determination - as you intimated above - you do like a challenge, hats off to you.
