How To Change Front Ball Joints On A 1993 MR2 Turbo
TOOLS USED:
two floor jacks
17mm 3/8 drive socket short
17mm 1/2 drive socket long
17mm openend boxend wrench
3/8 drive handle
1/2 drive breaker bar
pair of pliers
2 1/2 lb. hammer
Griot's Garage torque wrench 60-250 foot lbs.
Sears torque wrench 10-75 foot lbs.
wire brushes
PARTS PURCHASED:
Front ball joints
INSTRUCTIONS:
I decided not to do this exactly like the book shows as I wanted to
do some additional inspection of poly bushings, and check for any
corrosion so I changed the instructions to remove the lower arm
and strut arm and ball joint all together as a unit.
So, to start, jack up the front of the car and put it on a good set
of jack stands. Then remove the wheels.
Now choose a side to start on, and first remove the cotter pin that
holds the castle nut in place on the stud of the ball joint with a pair
of pliers.
Then using either a wrench or socket and breaker bar, loosen the castle
nut on the stud of the ball joint and remove it.
Now, using a 17mm wrench or breaker bar and socket, remove the two
bolts that hold the ball joint to the carrier.
Now using a large breaker bar, and 17mm socket, break loose and remove
the long bolt that holds the lower arm to the chassis. Make sure you
remember where the large washer goes when you remove the bolt.
Then using a large breaker bar and 17mm socket break loose the large
bolt that holds the strut bar to the chassis. Once removed then this
entire piece the strut bar, lower arm and ball joint should all come
off.
Now, using a 17mm socket and breaker bar, loosen and remove the two
nuts that hold the strut bar to the lower arm. On my car, I found
that these two studs were some what corroded, so you will want to
clean these up, and put a light corrosion preventative spray such
as Kroil or Aerokroil or CorrosionX on them before you put them
back together.
Now you are ready to separate the ball joint from the lower arm.
This is a tapered joint, so when pressed together it sticks good.
Here is the problem I had with the puller I used, what happened is this
the ball joint stud has a hole in it where the cotter pin goes through
and secures the castle nut in place. This creates a weak area so that
then the puller trys to pop the ball joint stud out of the lower arm
it winds up smashing the end of the ball joint stud. Also the puller
I had, would not properly fit on the end of the lower arm and would
pop off when pressure was applied. So I just wound up using a small
2 1/2 pound sledge hammer, and whacked the ball joint out. Yes, it
took quite a few good whacks, but it came out. You will want to support
the end of the lower arm well when you whack it like this, I supported
the lower arm on the end of the metal pipe in my garage that is there
to keep the car from running into the house heater. But if you have
a large shop bench, and or large vise or such then that could be used.
Any way you can support the end of the lower arm so that a majority of
the blow of the hammer is absorbed by the ball joint stud, and helps
remove it from the lower arm.
Once the ball joint is out, then you want to clean off any excess of
grease that may be on the tapered end of the new ball joint stud, or any
dirt or contaminant that might be in the hole on the end of the lower
arm. You want to make sure that these mating surfaces are clean when
you go to reassemble the new joint so that the ball joint stud taper
locks in place when the castle nut is torqued down.
So at this point, before any re-assembly is done, do clean up the lower
arm, and strut arm making sure that there is no further corrosion on
the two studs in the strut arm and then re-insert the two studs on the
strut arm, into the two holes on the lower arm, (make sure it is
oriented properly) and then hand tighten the two nuts onto the studs.
Then make sure that you clean up the area where the ball joint mates
to the carrier, this is a favorite place for rust. After cleaning
this area good then set the ball joint up into place and screw in the
two bolts that hold the ball joint to the carrier. Just for now put
them down hand tight.
Also make sure that you have cleaned the two large bolts that hold
the lower arm to the chassis, and the strut arm to the chassis, and
cleaned the area where they bolt up to the chassis. I also put a
very light coating of grease over the body of the bolt before
re-assembly so that it will move easier, and not bind up.
Now first, put the lower arm/strut arm assembly up in place and
push the lower arm first over the stud on the ball joint, and put
the castle nut on hand tight. Then position the other end of the
lower arm where it connects to the chassis and put the small washer
on the bolt first, and then position the lower arm and slide the large
washer up in place, then start the bolt in, and position both the
washer and the lower arm so that you can slide the bolt in and start it.
I used a 3/8 drive handle and 17mm short socket and started this bolt
and just snugged it up, don't torque it down yet.
Now comes the fun part. Position one of your floor jacks so that the
lift end is just under the end of the ball joint where the castle nut
is. Then start lifting the entire carrier and strut assembly.
At the same time you are going to press the strut assembly over in place
and line it up. As you do of course you will notice that the strut
joint is cocked over to one side and the large bolt will not go in.
To solve this then use the second floor jack and position it so that
the lift end is at the lower side of the strut joint so that it will
push up on this side and press it up into place. You will also need
to push on the entire assembly so that it lines up, you will be able
to tell which way it needs to be pushed simply by looking at it.
So by lifting with the jacks, and pushing on the entire assembly it
is fairly easy to line it all up, and then push the large bolt in place
and start it.
After you have the bolt started, and down snug, then remove the two
floor jacks and begin torquing down the bolts.
The bolts on the strut arm, meaning the to nuts, and the large end
bolt on the strut arm are torqued to 94 ft. lbs.
The bolt on the end of the lower arm, chassis end, is 89 ft. lbs.
The two bolts that hold the ball joint to the carrier are 59 ft. lbs.
and the castle nut that is on the end of the ball joint is torqued
to 36 ft. lbs. and then the book says to turn the castle nut tighter
to line up the holes and slots on the castle nut so that the cotter pin
will insert. In other words, the book says if the holes and slots on
the castle nut do not line up, you are to tighten it, not loosen it
to make the holes and slots line up so that the cotter pin will insert.
Then insert the cotter pin and using the pliers, bend the ends of it
around so that it can not come out.
Now check your work, and make sure that you did not forget one of the
bolts.
Now, do the same thing to the other side, put the wheels back on
and lower the car off the jack stands, and your done.
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Marc Summers SysAdmin
NEC eLUMINANT Technologies Inc.
EMAIL TO: marcs@eLUMINANT.com
PH# 1-503-681-3338
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