Replacing Ball Joint on Control Arm

[Topsaa]

heres pictures of it

i removed the nut at the top of the old ball joint, and bolt at the end of the control arm. But still won't budge at all. If anything im going to just ask a mechanic to come change it at my house.

Or for 70$ more i can just get a control arm that comes with the the new ball joint, would that be a better option?

Since the ball joint itself was 100$, and OEM control arm with ball join is 170$ from nissan

or i can get these, 2 control arms for 100$ not sure if it comes with ball joints thohttp://www.pdm-racing.com/prod....html

and anyone know if this site is trustable? last time i ordered 240 parts , it went bad hahaModified by Topsaa at 7:34 PM 3/11/2010
Modified by Topsaa at 7:56 PM 3/11/2010

[liquid_cool]

id buy the whole thing man...as a bonus..you get a perfect shape LCA..and a spare in case of emergencys that may come up due to some late night sliding curb checks...get the whole thing man.

[Topsaa]

Haha alright then ill just get the whole thing, but think that site i put up is okay? or should i just buy 1 OEM one for 170?

because this site its 2 for 100$

http://www.pdm-racing.com/prod....html

actually i think it will be trustable its in BC and i live only 600km from them
Modified by Topsaa at 8:26 PM 3/11/2010

[liquid_cool]

ya man..its just another dist for oem parts...it works the same...if you wanted to get rid of the balljoint hassle..you could upgrade your suspention and use hime-joints insted....there easy to replace..good luck

[Topsaa]

alright cool, thank salot man couldnt make up my mind, you did for me well just getting prices on shipping and will order these tmrw, cant wait to drive this, been in garage forever...

[vancouverbc]

yeah, i bought the arms from pdm. i live close so picked them up. run by asian guy.

[xekushnr]

I'm sure you could get it out if you smack it with your purse.

[Klits562]

..and a spare in case of emergencys that may come up due to some late night sliding curb checks...get the whole thing man.

I hear that The ball joint is hard to remove from the spindle my was stuck also since your gonna replace it just hammer it out make sure you dont mash it to bad or else it wont come out of the spindle lol

[Eikon]

Replacing ball joints sucks. You really should have a press to do it easily... which is why most people buy the whole lca with ball joint already pressed in.

Now.. as for getting the hub off the ball joint bolt.. You need a BFH.. Big "Freaking" Hammer.

[speedeast]

It has to come all the way off to put the new one in... all you have to do it pop the bolt with a 2lb hammer or something. It'll come right out after one or two wacks. Here is a write-up someone did on the rears... same process.

http://www.nicoclub.com/archiv....html

[gumby74]

Youre kidding right? A brand new Moog balljoint should cost less than $30 a side with a lifetime warranty.

You can either rap the side of the hub with a proper weighted bfh and that should seperate the spindle from the ball joint. Or use a retractor. You then rent the balljoint removal tool from Autozone (the giant C clamp looking thing) and remove and install the balljoints in something like 5 minutes a side. Return the loaner tool to Autozone get your deposite back and grab a bite to eat.

All this for about $60 for both sides.

Btw, you should remove the t/c rod bolts and the sway bar end link so that the control arm can droop sufficiently.

[Noxy]

Just my two cents. Hit a curb and F***ed S*** up. Replaced whole arm and ball joint. PB Blaster and a sledge are your friends

[Topsaa]

ya i just bought brand new FLCA hopefully theyll be here in a week.

[Sijonda]

Just my two cents. Hit a curb and F***ed S*** up. Replaced whole arm and ball joint. PB Blaster and a sledge are your friends

Yea that worked out GREAT

But on a serious matter. I'll be posting how those Megan Control Arms performed after a few weeks driving and after a few laps at the Carlisle Car Show next month. And I used my father's Ball Joint remover tool (that fork meant to separate the Control Arm from the Knuckle works great )

never used IMGUR on here before so if that inserted image doesn't work here's the linkhttp://i.imgur.com/FwRjS.jpg

[Noxy]

Haha... I used the fork, too! Unfortunately, it broke... So next best thing? Hammer.

But, I am curious how much of a difference that Megan arm will make. You should post your opinion up here once you've ran it.

[Klits562]

dang i didnt know megan had control armsLemee know how they work out and how much they cost cause i love megan they have the best customer service i've seen.

[Sijonda]

dang i didnt know megan had control armsLemee know how they work out and how much they cost cause i love megan they have the best customer service i've seen.

I found them cheapest directly from Megan Racing.Here is the link. "MSRP: $475.00/set"http://www.meganracing.com/pro...d=123

I'm not sure how valuable or detailed I can be since I'm definitely a newbie to anything after market but I'll let you know if I can notice anything.

[Mofuger]

I got OEM replacement arms from my local import parts distributor for $54 a side .

[CJH]

I just got done doing my ball joints. Besides the ball joint tool sucking, its not hard.
1. remove wheel.
2. remove caliper
3. disconnect knuckle from strut so you have more room
4. I removed my tierods too cause I was replaceing them anyways
5. remove pin from ball joint useing a combo of needle nose pilers and a flat head screw driver mixed with curse words
6. remove castle nut from joint
7. move knuckle around so you have alot of room to swing a hammer
8. Pound the s*** outa the ball joint to knock it out from the knucle. Hit it square on top. I have done this manny times & it has worked every time. I also have the fork tool, but hitting the top of the balljoint with a hammer really, really hard many times works better.
9. Take nuckle off and set aside
10. remove ring around bottom of balljoint. You can A: use the proper tool and remove it. or B: Use again a combonation of a needle nose pilers and 2 flat head screwdrivers mixed with curse words and remove it.
11. Use crappy tool to press bad ball joint out of the bottom of LCA
12. Use crappy tool to press in new good ball joint
13. put on new ring around base of ball joint with the same A and B options as mentioned above.
14 set knucle on joint
tighten nut down.
15. Put new pin in and bend around nut
16. reconnect knuckle to suspension
17. install new tierods(I did cause I removed my old bad ones)
18. put caliper back on
19. put wheel back on
20. drive to an alignment shop

1st- you just need to pound the s*** out of that ball joint from the top to remove it from the LCA.
2nd- if you were willing to have a mechanic come to your house to fix it, and yet you are going to remove the entire LCA to fix it yourself, why not remove the the LCA now with the knuckle and take it to a shop and have them quickly help you seperate them. cant be more money then an entire new LCA.
3rd- Moog ball joints are like $70 each gumby74. Then another brand name is $55 each. Dualast is $35 each. And OEM is $20. I was just at the store.

Hope this helps

[piermorton]

Just got there recently! my name is pier. Sorry from the late response How to replace a ball joint seems to be easy however, you still need to have a guide for you to done it right. in here, you'll find dozens of videos for auto repair. i'm not gonna fool you guyz. I've tried this the last time and the results were pretty good.