Ball joint problems 

"BeaterGT" (beatergt) 10/20/2018 at 18:10 • Filed to: None

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Trying to replace ball joints on my Legacy GT. Getting the old one out was hard enough but now the new ball joint won’t seat all the way inside the knuckle. Tried putting the jack underneath the ball joint and jacking it up into the knuckle but no luck, it was raising the car off the stands. Any suggestions, Oppo?

Now with picture!

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > BeaterGT 10/20/2018 at 18:15

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You are braver than I, ball joints are one thing I won’t DIY

sony1492 > BeaterGT 10/20/2018 at 18:20

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If your pressing in a ball joint you need a press or a special c clamp.

MoCamino > sony1492 10/20/2018 at 18:41

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This, very much.  I have always had to use the clamp/press tool.  It just won’t seat right otherwise.  Fortunately you can get them as a full refund rental at the parts store.  

Sovande > BeaterGT 10/20/2018 at 18:43

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Is it just the tapered bolt part that won’t seat? If so, put the taper in the hole and let the car down in it. Then hit the adjacent flat part of the (I’m assuming) control arm with a hammer and it should slide in.

sony1492 > MoCamino 10/20/2018 at 18:44

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Id be more afraid if it didn't require the clamp

BeaterGT > sony1492 10/20/2018 at 19:04

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Here’s a pic. Got a C clamp but it isn’t too special. We did rent a press kit from Advanced but ran out of light. 

BeaterGT > Sovande 10/20/2018 at 19:22

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Added a pic. It doesn't seem like the ball joint is fully seated to put the pinch bolt back in. 

sony1492 > BeaterGT 10/20/2018 at 19:38

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You’ll need to rerent the press to finish this

Wild > BeaterGT 10/20/2018 at 19:40

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Pu t the ball joint in a freezer for a couple hours. Next time put the internal part in the freezer as soon as ya get it and leave it there until immediately before installation.

BeaterGT > sony1492 10/20/2018 at 19:40

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I still have it. Will give it a shot in the morning. 

Sovande > BeaterGT 10/20/2018 at 19:42

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I'm not sure what I'm looking at, but c an you just tighten the nut until it sucks it in tight? Any chance you have an impact wrench? 

BeaterGT > Wild 10/20/2018 at 19:42

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Definitely wish I had done this but I'm actually replacing the entire control arm so I didn't have to press in or out anything, so the ball joint was already in the control arm. Watched a bunch of people just hammer the new ball joint in but that is not working here. 

BeaterGT > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 10/20/2018 at 19:44

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I’m just happy I didn’t break the old pinch bolt in the knuckle. Didn’t expect installation to give me this much trouble.

Boxer_4 > BeaterGT 10/20/2018 at 19:46

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What’s the surface look like in the cup? If the old ball joint had corrosion on it, I’m guessing the mating surface doesn’t look to great.

Not any help, but I hate those ball joints. I couldn’t even get it out. I ended up paying a local shop $160 all in for the replacement. Totally worth it in my opinion.

BeaterGT > Sovande 10/20/2018 at 19:48

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The castle nut is fully fastened, which draws the ball joint in to the control arm . The exposed top of the ball joint should be in up to the shoulder but it’s not quite there. No way to pound the knuckle down into it either. 

BeaterGT > Boxer_4 10/20/2018 at 19:58

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It wasn’t great but we cleaned it up real well and greased it too . And I know what you mean, we had to use some real interesting, yet effective, techniques to get the old ball joint out of the knuckle. $160 is a great price! 

Sovande > BeaterGT 10/20/2018 at 20:00

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Ah gotcha. I was thinking of the wrong end. I gots nothing. 

BeaterGT > Sovande 10/20/2018 at 20:00

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Thanks for your help anyway, I know the setup you’re talking about.

Urambo Tauro > BeaterGT 10/20/2018 at 21:07

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Is the ball-joint retained by a pinch bolt? Kinda looks like it from here. Can’t say I’ve come across a setup like that before. If that i s the case, you should be able to open up the ears with a chisel.

BeaterGT > Urambo Tauro 10/20/2018 at 21:10

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Yep! Thought about that too but would hate to break an ear. Hoping tomorrow brings more luck. 

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > BeaterGT 10/20/2018 at 21:24

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I dont have any suggestions, but best luck for tomorrow!
Also, wish me luck since i’ll be doing the outer ball joints on the Mini on Wednesday.

BeaterGT > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability 10/20/2018 at 21:37

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Haha, thanks. Good luck and don't forget to pre soak with some PB!

brianbrannon > BeaterGT 10/20/2018 at 22:57

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I use a man height pry bar to pop those out. Just hit the arm with a big hammer to seat the new one. May be difficult to get a good swing  from your angle. Did you try bouncing the car while jacking the arm up slightly?

BeaterGT > brianbrannon 10/20/2018 at 23:03

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Sure did, and yeah there is almost no room to swing up but surely the jack should have worked . We used a socket trick to unseat the old ball joint. There’s also a possibility RockAuto sent me the wrong parts so going to try a different ball joint tomorrow and go from there. 

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > BeaterGT 10/20/2018 at 23:39

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Thanks!

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > BeaterGT 10/21/2018 at 01:16

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The “right” answer is a ball joint press. In the alternative, you can probably spread the ears a bit on arm. There’s also the old school trick of freezing the ball joint overnight to shrink it a bit.

Khalbali > BeaterGT 10/21/2018 at 10:30

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That’s the way I’d do it, never had an ear brake and there was a huge recall on cx9 ball joints while I was a Mazda tech, did 1-5 sets a day for close to a year.

BeaterGT > Khalbali 10/21/2018 at 10:35

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Looks like I might have been sent the wrong control arm so I’ll have to wait and see what the solution is.

MoCamino > sony1492 10/21/2018 at 15:15

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Excellent point.  No clamp = way too loose = death trap.  

BeaterGT > Khalbali 10/26/2018 at 08:19

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You use a hammer and chisel to spread the ears? 

Khalbali > BeaterGT 10/26/2018 at 23:13

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Yep, spread them out a bit, hammer the old arm out, line up bolts on the new one and then hammer new one in, just don’t hammer directly on the ball joint, hit the arm itself close by.

BeaterGT > Khalbali 10/27/2018 at 01:27

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Had to unbolt the strut assembly but got the new one in. Unfortunately the pinch threads came out with the old bolt so now I have to get a bolt and nut in there. 

Khalbali > BeaterGT 10/27/2018 at 07:58

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Weird I've never seen that threaded, mazdas have a bolt anyways. Just be careful tightening it (maybe get a couple lol) I couldn't tell you how many I've stripped. When you've got it together do a tight figure 8 in a parking lot and listen for chunks as you load up each corner, we had a lot of apprentices at my old shop so we had a lot of comebacks on them and it was almost always that bolt being overtightened and stripping.