Hi there , I'm looking for advice on replacing the four big ball joints in the lower arms , can they be done in situe if so what's the best way to tackle them ?, or is it easy enough for me to take the whole lot off have them pressed out and new ones pressed in , cheers Paul
as said get them pressed in off van and dont forget when you do the top two you will need to have the camber and track reset
mark where your camber nut grooves are before you take them off. there's like at little nick in them. I used a dremel on the camber nut and the arm, everything seems fine. You shouldnt really have to get your tracking done unless youve undone the trackrod ends from the trackrods.
Thanks guys , took everything off on Saturday hoping to get them pressed out this week and put back on next sat cheers for all the advice
There is no guarantee that the camber nuts are in the right position to start off with!! So even if you do mark them, it is well worth getting it all checked by a garage that knows what they are doing!!
Very true - do most of my own repairs but heavier stuff I leave to the pro`s... Ball joints needed to be replaced so I contacted a trusted local outfit who`ve worked on the van before, took `em a day and all seemed well... HOWEVER - couple of weeks passed and the van was pulling to the left and scrubbing the nearside tyre, I checked the camber nuts for marks and they were marked and lined up - weird !! Garage couldn`t get me in for 6 weeks, so took the van down to get a new tyre and tracking checked, - they were MILES out.... (First time using laser alignment - most impressed !!) Transformed the van , probably been set badly for years ...
Hi there , my good friend has been getting these ball joints pressed out today the bottom two were ok , the top two wasn't sure about how the camber nuts come off and go back on the new ones ? Would I better off ordering new camber nuts ? Thanks again Paul
Nooooo you need to use a truck sized ball joint splitter to get the camber nuts off, or the 2 hammer trick to get a ball joint taper out!!
if your mate has hydraulic press to push the new ball joints in and out get a bearing separator under the head of camber nut and press them off, thats what i did with mine careful though as they go with a bang
Anyone tackling this - once done if you get chance to get a spin on a laser tracking unit jump at it, superb !! The local tyre place (when I was in Leeds) had one and were surprised to say the least to find they had settings for VW TRANSPORTER , 72 - 79 . Worth asking as I think they all run the same software. I`ll say again - TRANSFORMED the handling .... 20 quid well spent.
Hi there,just an update the arms were taken off my mate took them to his garage and pressed the ball joints out and re installed new ones ,we got them back on the bus this weekend ,so onto the next jobs , sort horn out help needed please ,new battery tray ,seat runners , then mot time , then paint, interior ,wheels ,lower ,, never ending lol
The horn problem is easy get a multi meter to check you have 12V at the horn measure between one terminal & the body (its live at all times with the ignition on) get a wire & touch the -ve terminal (the one that didn't have 12V on it) If the horn beeps then it works if not you need a new horn. If no 12V check the fuse & the wiring. If you have 12V & the horn works then take off the steering wheel & make sure the copper strip that is bent upwards is touching the steering wheel base if not bend it up, if this is ok then you need to check the wire that runs up the column.
Hi thanks for that, I installed a new horn there's a wire just above the steering box that's broken if I make contact with this wire the horn sounds, there is no wire going up the steering column or coming out the bottom , baffling me
This will be the wire from the horn and earthing it completes the circuit. It should be attached to the bottom of the outer steering column, there is a good photo in Bentley.Have you prised off the horn push? (just the plastic part)
