ball joints

sean1141

do i need a special tool to remove the ball joints on my car? im going to be doing the wishbone bushings at the same time..

mk1 seat leon

dgt

Ball hammer, pry bar.

The traditional way

Alternatively there is a tool you can get in halfrauds for around 20 quid that does that job

sean1141

seen two tools there the other day. one is a 2prong tool and the other has a screw on the bottom

cjt156

I've used that screw type on my 156 and the wife's Volvo. Blunt force types may work OK but can scuff or damage the joint - bad news if you hit a problem & have to put things back together.

It only failed me once & that was a seized upper wishbone that had to be removed, strut and all, and pulled apart at the local grease-monkey's.

sean1141

i gather the tool is to seperate the ball joint from the wheel bearing housing and not the wishbone?

cjt156

Yep, to split the balljoint. I've always replaced the entire wishbone, joints, bushes and all.

sean1141

is it much more expencive to replace the whole wishbone?

2012 Rio

When I had a situation where a bushing/joint was gone on my last car I decided to replace the whole wishbone, bushings and all included, in the one go as if one bushing was shagged the chances are the others were not too far behind. Make the one job of it. A full wishbone assembly will only cost marginally more than buying the bushings and joints separately and fitting to the old wishbone. I think on my car the bushes/joints cost 60-ish on their own but the whole wishbone cost 80. The avoidance of the hassle of beating out the old bushes and pressing in the new ones has to be worth 20 quid.

sean1141

genuine bushings and ball joints are costing about 50 a side. micks garage have wishbones for about 75 a side but i would rather genuine stuff

cjt156

On some cars the ball-joint is integral to the wishbone & so swapping bushes alone risks damaging the ball-joint rubber. Plus, its an awkward job best done once as said above.
I did consider doing them individually on our Volvo but the saving was marginal. On the Alfa its all or nothing.

sean1141

cjt156 wrote: »

On some cars the ball-joint is integral to the wishbone & so swapping bushes alone risks damaging the ball-joint rubber. Plus, its an awkward job best done once as said above.
I did consider doing them individually on our Volvo but the saving was marginal. On the Alfa its all or nothing.

55 Sterling for a wishbone with bushing in place and 21 for the ball joint. Think it would be a lot easier job just 2 change the complete wishbone as i'll be doing the work myself!