do i need to remove front strut? and rotor or is there anyway around this ? even tho. the c clamp ball joint press does not seem like it will fit whit out taking everything apart....thx

 

you dont have to remove the strut or spindle, just remove the spindle from the ball joint.

keep in mind you have to support the control arm, or the spring will fly out.

The c-clamp style tools are hit or miss. sometimes they work, other times not. Might have to pull the control arm out completely and put in in a press to change the joints

 

mind as well do the control arm bushings if im taking the control arm off right. i just cant see how to fit the ball joint press c clamp, whit out taking atleast rotor off. it does not seem it will fit.

 

Rotor will have to come off. The only problem that I had when doing mine was that I didn't have the car jacked up high enough for the rental tool from Autozone.

 

Never removed the rotor, just the spindle/ball joint connection, let the a-arm down some, shove the rotor out of the way with a 2x4 and use the c-clamp to swap out the ball joint with a jack under the a-arm spring location.

 

what he said, and i said

you guys are over complicating this.

 

Nothin to it...

I just took my A-arms to a shop and let them press the ball joints and my new control arm bushings in.

 

i gave it a try with the c-clamp type press and gave up. just had one of my buddies at a local shop swap the ball joints and bushings out on their press. some things are worth the hassle, this wasn't (to me at least).

 

thx for the pics. worth a thousand words. but its funny how to some people its not that big of a deal. and to others it is

 

yeah i need to do this too but i think like Dan said, its one of those things..

it is for us at least

 

how much did your buddy charge you? i wonder how much this job goes for

 

My ball joints and control arm bushings wont move at all either. I called a junk yard in my area and they quoted me at $40 to have them all removed and pressed back in, if i brought the control arms to them.

I guess its pretty easy if you have a press and is only a 10 minute job.

 

You stil have to be careful, its easy to bend and distort the the control arm when trying to remove a stubborn bushing or balljoint. Its not. A bad idea to weld pieces of flat steel betweel the two sides of the bushing before pressing it out to help prevent the steel flanges from collapsing

 

So you have to remove the outer tierods as well?... Im replacing my springs balljoint and struts.

 

^^^ What he said, I collapsed my control arms in the bushing area. Looked at replacing it including new bushings, new ball joints etc etc decided to just get tubulars instead.