D22 lower ball joint replacement

[chule]

Anyone had a crack at removing and replacing lower ball joints? One of mine has a split rubber boot and the grease is leaking out so it won't be long before it's completely shot.

Unlike the upper ball joints, it appears that you would have to remove the entire hub and rotor assembly off the control arms in order to slide the ball joint in or out past the CV boot. Is there a need to un-wind the torsion bars when doing this as well?

Opinions appreciated - thanks.

 

[Craig09]

i did mine at the same time as bushings so i already had the arm out.it was a real prick to get the ball joint out,had to use a press to get it out,new one goes in easy as though.

 

[chule]

Cheers- would you say it can be replaced without removing the arm or hub?

 

[Craig09]

just trying to think,you will have to take the hub assembally off to get to the nut on the ball joint.the arm might not have to come out depending on how stuck the joint is but they are effectivly pressed in at stock so i dont like your chances without takeing the arm off.
either way you still have to pull the whole lot out down to the last 2 bolts on the arm anyway so you might aswell take it out

 

[unkn0wn]

Hi Guys,
I need to do both mine to pass the pits, what is the best way to do this?
kind of annoying because on the first inspection before i took ownership of the car, hey dident mention balljoints.....now they have - the big anoyance is that i allready had both lower arms off to do the bushings ... fffssssssss
hopefully it can be done without removing arm.....

 

[chule]

I had Fulcrum suspension do mine. I think it could be done without removing the arm. The entire hub assembly would have to come out to access the nut- which is peened/staked to the thread.

 

[Voxberg]

dont know if you switched already, but you can get it out without removing the arm or touching the torsion bars, you are gonna need two jacks and some time thou.... i did it on mine last week

edit: you will need to get the drive axel loose so that you can "tilt" out the drive shaft boot a little.

 

[Been a while]

dont know if you switched already, but you can get it out without removing the arm or touching the torsion bars, you are gonna need two jacks and some time thou.... i did it on mine last week

edit: you will need to get the drive axel loose so that you can "tilt" out the drive shaft boot a little.

Interesting... shame you didn't get any pictures, orrrrrrrr did you

 

[[email protected]]

i always found that if one ball joint is knackered the other is on its way out. for an extra few bucks you will be set for another 60th klm plus depending how rough the terrain is

 

[Benengel]

I did both the upper and lower ball joints the other month.
For the upper ball joint i had to remove the whole upper A arm. i didn't have a press or a vise... only blocks of wood and a mallet. which was pretty difficult to say the least.
The lower ball joint was piece of piss. had to to use a massive crescent to break the nut on top. then just a bit of a good whack and it popped right off.
an extra jack stand under the A arm always helps aswell.
from memory It took a few angles and ideas to get the G spot.
to put it back on just a bit of grease and then did the nut up.

This is just from memory it was about 2-3 months ago and had a helping hand from a mechanic mate. but we didnt have any special gear just the bare min.

 

[Marked]

Ball joint press tools are pretty cheap; easily covered by the labour you aren't paying a mechanic for if you do it yourself. I did need to make up an extra collar that the toolpro kit I purchased didn't come with in order to reinstall the ball joints in the daughter's D40 though - just the right length of 65 NB pipe cut square did the trick. Only needed to do the bottoms as hers has aftermarket upper arms with adjustable ball joints, and still zero regrets having paid for the press tool.

 

[Horatius]

Anyone had a crack at removing and replacing lower ball joints? One of mine has a split rubber boot and the grease is leaking out so it won't be long before it's completely shot.

Unlike the upper ball joints, it appears that you would have to remove the entire hub and rotor assembly off the control arms in order to slide the ball joint in or out past the CV boot. Is there a need to un-wind the torsion bars when doing this as well?

Opinions appreciated - thanks.

I did mine some time ago. The top ones were easy but I remember the taper in the bottom ones being a pita and I had to use heat around them both to get them out. Apart from this replacing them was easy enough with a cheap kit from fleabay.

I don't recall winding down the torsion bars, but I seem to recall removing the axle to get it out of the way. I know you're not doing the top, but if the top arms are ever taken out it's worth making sure they go back in at the exact same camber and castor settings.

This "how to" link is for an earlier model, but it might still help you.

https://www.navaraforum.com/threads/how-to-upper-lower-ball-joints.12188/

 

[Horatius]

ps. It might be worth considering replacement of upper ball joints as well. They're easy enough to do and I think the easiest way to do the bottom ones might involve undoing the top joints first anyway.