Changing Lower Ball Joints

[Ollie82.]

Has anyone given it a go?

Had mine up on the ramp tonight and im considering changing the drivers side one to see if it stops this knocking i have.
Is it simply a case of undoing the two bolts on the underside of the lower wishbone and the one on the hub?

 

[TomTom]

Dead easy Ollie, on a ramp, not rushing say 15 minutes to change the balljoint on its own, add another 10 minutes if your changing the whole arm. You'll need sockets and spanners, 16mm, 18mm, hammer, small punch.

In a nutshell if your just changing the Ball Joint. Crack off both red bolts, take the nuts off. Push them up and remove the bolts. Next WD40 the nut on the other end of that blue bolt. Undo the nut holding the other end with a spanner. The bolts more than likely gunked up loads from age, spin it with a airgun/ratchet until its nice and free, tap it threw gently with a copper hammer. If your built like Robocop, grab the balljoint and pull down and it'll come out the bottom of the hub, if your built like Timmy Mallett get a balljoint splitter and hammer it in where the arrow is on the pic. Basically forcing a gap between the hub and ball joint. It'll come off.

Re-fitting is the reversal of removal... When you push the new balljoint in, look threw the gap where the blue bolt sits you have to line it up, theres a groove in the BJ where the bolt is basically.

 

[Fred@BTM]

172 ball joints aren't available on their own, you have to buy the entire lower arm which is about £60

 

[Josh@Renparts]

172 ball joints aren't available on their own, you have to buy the entire lower arm which is about £60

as fred says.... im sure edde said he thought he had found one off a laguna or something which was the same though he was certainly going to confirm for definite...

 

[Ollie82.]

TomTom.....fantastic walkthru there buddy! Very helpful.:approve: I'll be printing that off for reference!

Cheers for the help fella's. So i have to buy the whole arm?

 

[TomTom]

More or less yeah, if you've bought the whole arm its false economy only changing the BJ mate, not that much harder to be honest just got the ARB on each arm to add on, and 2 bolts.

 

[edde]

as fred says.... im sure edde said he thought he had found one off a laguna or something which was the same though he was certainly going to confirm for definite...

There is another I need to have a look but even if i do find the answer Im not posting it up as its just good practice to chnage the arm as well.

In theory its dead easy but sometime in practice arrrrrrr.

 

[Tom]

I only need a joint! i dont really want the bloody arm.

 

[edde]

172 ball joints aren't available on their own, you have to buy the entire lower arm which is about £60

as fred says.... im sure edde said he thought he had found one off a laguna or something which was the same though he was certainly going to confirm for definite...

I only need a joint! i dont really want the bloody arm.

If you can hold on a bit I'll try find out the similar part number as such and PM you. TBR racing are able to maintain cars so I know you'll use properly service the car and check it.

 

[Tom]

Cheers boss.
Im tempted to buy the arms remove the joint and replace the arm when the old one is knackered, but id still like the part number just in case.

 

[alexbrown981]

I Just did this job, be careful not to pull the driveshaft out, as this is exactly what i did this week, it took me ages to put back together, with gearbox oil everywhere, and i thought a knackered gearbox, due to a whining noise. i thought the tripod had gone (the end of the driveshaft). Luckliy it was just the abs ring rubbing. peace

 

[TimR26]

Got mine down at a local garage for about £60, lot easier than doing it yourself.

 

[caister]

I think this needs to be added in the guides section. Or is it already and i'm going blind?

 

[franx]

i did this, just the ball joint.
Will look up the partno. Mind you , the holes need to be drilled out 1mm , so from 8 to 10mm

(or was it 10 to 12? ah well, it will be clear once purchased)

 

[franx]

7701472038 these were the ones i used..

 

[jack_davey]

you can buy them on ebay

 

[franx]

show us, can't find them

 

[jack_davey]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RENAULT-CLIO-...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item4ceb7e22b0

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Renault-Sport...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item3ef84557a8

 

[rich-6]

£30 fiver at my motor factors for QH ones!!

Was a b*****d to do on mine, siezed solid windygun wouldnt touch it but the blowtorch did :lol:

 

[franx]

Cheerio Jack Dayey !

Rich ; were the holes the right size ? (i guess so or else you would have said) ?

I checked the price for the partno i used, they were a LITTLE cheaper. But i also had to drill out the holes which is no good ofcourse

Great stuff, thanks for the link

 

[15MAS]

A few questions please, When refitting the new ball joint do people grease the new pin or will this attract dirt and accelerate wear?
Do people threadlock the wishbone bolts?
Does the tracking need doing afterwards. I assumed there was no need as it's just three fixed bolt positions and no room for movement.
Any help appreciated.