wishbone ball-joint swap

hello,
going to change the right side wishbone ball-joint,
wondering if it would be easier to remove the wishbone from the car and do it on the workbench?
did the left-side some years ago (without removing the wishbone from the car) and it was a pain to drill the old ball-joint out.

any thoughts would be appreciated.

thanks
Miguel Baptista

I remove the wishbone as it's much easier to drill out the rivets with my pillar drill!!

Nodge68 said:

I remove the wishbone as it's much easier to drill out the rivets with my pillar drill!!

Click to expand...

:behindsofa:

I'll second that !!
It's just too much hassle trying to drill them properly and straight under the wheel arch without breaking the drill or drilling out of line.
Let's face it, you only have to do it once so why not do the job easier and correctly ???

ok, I'll try it that way.

"I'll be back!"

The rivets are hard as a hard thing so use lots of oil or the drill will burn out

Nodge68 said:

The rivets are hard as a hard thing so use lots of oil or the drill will burn out

Click to expand...

This has just reminded me why I ended up using new wishbones on my dads freelander, I couldn't remember why I had left over ball joints but it because the rivets were so bloody hard!

couldn't get the f****** thing off, front bolt didn't move a bit,
tomorrow down to a friend's garage with elevator and impact wrench!!!
working on the car without having my back on the pavement is unusual and all it will take is some beers as payment.

op2:

at last it came out,


after grinder and drill ball-joint out of wishbone, old and new



fitted!!!

Job well done !!
It's worth the effort and if you need to change them again things will be a lot easier.

Irishrover said:

... if you need to change them again...

Click to expand...

left side was 10 years old when I did it in 2010, this one was 13 so I hope not having to worry about them for some time.

How much are the ball joints? I'm thinking of picking up some and doing them before the MOT is due.

Carparts4less list them for my freelander for £11.52 each delivered

That's cheap! Thanks for that, much appreciated.

i have managed to get a clutch and flywheel for my old tdci for only £300 from there where as everywhere else wanted 350 for the flywheel alone and its always my first port of call for steering and suspension parts and service parts are cheap to

Free nextday delivery aswell

when you order from them you will get a Eurocarparts box its because if the same company just a **** load cheaper lol

How did you get the ball joint bolt out of the bottom of the brake. I'm doing mine and can't get it to move. Nut is undone.

Not sure what this tool is called in english:



But hook it on the ball joint and hit it with a hammer. The bigger the better.

A ball joint splitter?

Only that type wont fit in the space available