P38 2.5dse 1997 MOT

Yes. MOT failed, however i have almost 2 months to fix issues.

Basically my left front is scrwd.

Both joints, and the front bushing at the radius arm thingy... Also the dust thingy at the CV Joint..

Thats basically it, appart from my Transfluid leak which aparently also caught the MOTs eyes, even tho theres 1-2 drops a day if its at stand still. Sometimes not even any drops... Also, been leaking some coolant apparently. (yay it dosnt use coolant)

They also complain about self rightening (steering wheel) that it does it too slow, or little.


In total 12 "errors" needed to get fixed. 4 is just about some lights gone crazy... Rest is not a concern tbh.

They also said my rear bags are abit old, and my front brakes where not anything to brag about apparently. (pads)

So how do i attack the ball joints. I can't find the special tool online, would a normal ball joint remover, type clamp work.

cheers

Boom.. The front axle jobby thing..
List,
CV boots,
Drive shaft seals,
Top and bottom ball joints (not cheap units),
A word of warning, on the bottom ball joint there is a collar!!! DO NOT TURN IT FROM ITS POSITION!!! it aligns the drive shaft with the seal and if moved will leak!!
Once the ball joint tool is clamped hard on the ball joint, apply a good amount of force and then tap around the ball joint. Repeat until it pops out.
Oil the clamp thread also.
Don't try to just wind the clamp and expect it to pop out you'll run the risk of damaging the clamps thread. Then your buggered!!
The hub and bearing will be a bigger to move also so plenty of release oil there, you can undo the bolts and knock th from behind or use a good strong chisel to even force the hub out. Any deformation can be filed down later. (I préfère this method as it does not put any risk on the bolt threads.
Clean the cv shaft noses and upon assembly put some loctite on the splines and tighten (not sure of the torque I just lock them real tight!) the loctite reduces the "clocking" noise when changing from drive to reverse.
Any more and I'll add as I remember or ask!!

These are the kind of kits. I have the bigger kit for the garage and have since replaced the clamp due to errr lack of oil and hooning on it!!!!

Lubricate the clamp thread with cv grease and put the new ball joints in the freezer night before and a little warm up of the hub helps to get them in.

Lemforder balljoints too. New stake nut for the drive shaft. I used all new bolts for the hub and calipers. Abs sensor removal can be a Ballache, mine were.

Cheers for filling up my knowledge.
Ive bought delphi ball joints 15£ each, from island4x4
Also bought complete abs sensor with bush and seal.
i also purchased the driveshaft seal, but must i buy the expensive fit tool? Its like 100£, to just apply a seal.

Looking at the tools for the balljoints it looks like ive found a good set for 150£ with aloot of parts.

Im just afraid the bore is to big after i remove the balljoints! Heard they can only get changed 3 times, my car has ran 290k KM so i dont know how many ball joints its busted?

synchro said:

Cheers for filling up my knowledge.
Ive bought delphi ball joints 15£ each, from island4x4
Also bought complete abs sensor with bush and seal.
i also purchased the driveshaft seal, but must i buy the expensive fit tool? Its like 100£, to just apply a seal.

Looking at the tools for the balljoints it looks like ive found a good set for 150£ with aloot of parts.

Im just afraid the bore is to big after i remove the balljoints! Heard they can only get changed 3 times, my car has ran 290k KM so i dont know how many ball joints its busted?

Click to expand...

There should be marks on the hub carrier indicating how many times they have been changed, but there rarely are. Nothing needed for the drive shaft seal, the old seal can be butchered and the new one tapped into place with a socket.

If you haven't got a suitable socket or whatever, I found the cap off a 20 ltr oil drum was perfect, most of these drum caps are the same size on 20/25/30 ltr drums.

Heres what i bought, with some extras.

do i need to grease up the bore before installing rhe new joints?

cheers

I found the new sensors came with the dust seal and cage.

synchro said:

Heres what i bought, with some extras.

do i need to grease up the bore before installing rhe new joints?

cheers

Click to expand...

If you mean the swivels, definitely not. Leave the swivels in the freezer overnight before fitting.

Datatek said:

If you mean the swivels, definitely not. Leave the swivels in the freezer overnight before fitting.

Click to expand...

Leave them in a poly bag though or you'll be chipping them off your fish fingers

Flossie said:

Leave them in a poly bag though or you'll be chipping them off your fish fingers

Click to expand...

can i use the fish fingers instead of the ball joints in this procedure?

I did a How To in the Technical Section on how to replace the CV boot.

@EntropyUK made some sort of alignment tool to check all still good after doing the ball-joints. Worth searching his posts.

Mark Piercy said:

View attachment 264318 View attachment 264317
These are the kind of kits. I have the bigger kit for the garage and have since replaced the clamp due to errr lack of oil and hooning on it!!!!

Click to expand...

Told you before Mark you always need plenty of lube before screwing

Rubberknees said:

Told you before Mark you always need plenty of lube before screwing

Click to expand...

I know I know and every time I don't listen and I'm torn..... If life was so much more simple... 8>{

Ok, another lovely MOT failure was my front radius arm bush. Ive heard LRT-60-004 is the correct tool. My question however is, is theese "metal casts/tool" suitable to be used by a "c press" or must i have like a 10+ tonne shop press? I preferably want to swap the bushing without taking off the whole arm But, i don't have a shop press anyhow. But i do have the C press for my ball joints.

I bought a 20ton shop press

synchro said:

Ok, another lovely MOT failure was my front radius arm bush. Ive heard LRT-60-004 is the correct tool. My question however is, is theese "metal casts/tool" suitable to be used by a "c press" or must i have like a 10+ tonne shop press? I preferably want to swap the bushing without taking off the whole arm But, i don't have a shop press anyhow. But i do have the C press for my ball joints.

Click to expand...

It's a bit of a barateward but you can always drill out the old one. Going back in, a bit of grease and then press, wait a bit, press and so on can help.

To get the old radius arm bushes out run a drill down the side just catching the plastic outer a couple of times then it can be levered in and pushed out, you could do with a tapered collar to push the new bushes in as they are 2mm bigger than the hole in the arm, bush 61mm hole 59mm iirc, i have the tool but the cost of posting it out to you and back would be frightening its quite a heavy lump of steel.