Wishbone help

overdriver

I have to replace the driver's side front wishbone on my '01 Hiace. I reckon it looks simple enough, and I'm going to tackle it on Monday ( when I don't need the van for a few days, just in case I make a hames of it!)

I bought a ball-joint splittler ( a threaded bolt which runs through a kind of two-finger affair).
Anyone got any tips for me for this job, or can tell me how to use this splitter, please?

ismynametoolong

Mate its not that simple a job !!
The splitter is used to force the ball joint out of the tapered hole or receiver on the end of the stub axle , however there normally isnt enough room to install the splitters on the lower ball joint (they usually only work on the track rod ends) so you generally end up using a good dead blow hammer and two tyre levers to force the ball joint out of its socket.

BrianD3

Some ball joints are easier to remove than others. I believe there are different designs of ball joint. The only ones i'm familiar with have a pin and clamp, once this is released it doesn't take much to get the ball joint out of its receiver.

Also does the hiace have the ball joint bolted to the wishbone or are the joint and wishbone all one piece/rivetted together etc. If bolted then you can probably replace the wishbone without replacing the ball joint. However this may not be regarded as a good practice.

overdriver

The wishbone and balljoint are one piece, yes.
I'm a great believer in giving things a go myself. I have a good friend who's a former mechanic, and he's always there if I get too deep in ca-ca to extricate myself. Unfortunately, he's on holiday this week, but still, we have mobile telephones.


He told me if I can't get the splitter in, to reverse the castle nut and use a lump hammer to force the balljoint apart.