A frame Ball joint

Gents,

do i need any special tools or support to change my A frame upper ball joint, it looks fairly simple, but I'll be doing it on the driveway just laid under the car, So do I need to support anything, before something drops on my head. ( 1986 defender 90)

nope, just make sure you get a lemforder one....change the bushes in the arms, its a PIA of a job but sorted with normal tools, bloody knckles and a bit of swearing, see my project build thread for how i did it...


approx page 21 to 30 or so if you cant be assed to read it all lol

From what I recall:

Start with the penetrating fluid. You will need to remove the bracket that fits between the two arms and you may find the bolts siezed actually into the ball joint bracket, not just siezed nuts. I used a long breaker bar to move these and you are likely to need to knock them through to remove, so expect to have to replace them.

I couldn't get a socket on my joint nut and needed a decent ring spanner and lump hammer to undo the nut. I didn't fully remove the nut on mine before trying to knock it loose (I used a piece of 25mm round bar as a drift) but ended up damaging the thread which then bound on the nut which in turn started the joint spinning so stopped me being able to undo the bolt fully - I had to re tighten and sort the damaged thread before undoing it again.

I actually replaced just the ball joint on mine so needed a decent 30 tonne press. You need to cut off the "wings" of the ball joint to allow you to support the bracket when you push the joint out.

When refitting the new joint you need to align the holes and keep them in line before pressing it in - worthy of a search for a more detailed description of doing this.

Doing on the ground. Chock your front wheels to prevent vehicle movement. Once the A joint is removed the rear axle can move a bit, not only back and fore, the body can now also move side to side some. Useful when lining joint with axle on refitting. The springs and trailing arms keep axle mor or less in place. However when fighting to remove joint from arms or arms from chassis I have the rear chassis supported. If renewing arm bushes remove the whole thing and change axle joint off the truck. Good luck and take care.

Dr Strangeglove said:

I actually replaced just the ball joint on mine so needed a decent 30 tonne press. You need to cut off the "wings" of the ball joint to allow you to support the bracket when you push the joint out.

Click to expand...

I have done a couple of them by beating them out with a large hammer but it is hard work. to refit you then just use some long high tensile bolts to pull it all back into place and then beat with a large hammer again. With the easy availability and price of the complete unit op has posted above I don't think I will be bothering in the future when it is due for changing again.

When I did mine, I too discovered that a socket wouldn't go on the nut. However, if you jack the chassis up and let the axle drop it's possible to get a ring spanner on it. I think the axles vary a bit in terms of exactly where the fitting for the centre ball joint is welded on. It can be a lot easier to take the arms off the chassis - there's three 10mm bolts each side holding the brackets onto a crossmember. (Some models have welded on brackets but they're in a minority). Once you've got he whole lot out it becomes a lot easier to work on, for example to get the bushes out of the chassis ends of the arms, and get the bolts out that hold the bracket to the axle end. The ball joint is often very reluctant to come out of the bracket. I put over 25 tonnes on mine with a press. This bent the bracket, so it wouldn't have been any use, even if the ball joint had come out, It's easier just to buy the whole thing.