W126 Front End Work
 

I finally got the front end up in the air, supported by jack stands, and disassembled some of the components. The brakes and baking plate are off, the tie rod disconnected and the upper ball joint as well.

Then I used my Sears two jaw puller on the lower ball joint and then gave the lower control arm a good wack with a hammer. The joint did not pop, so I loaded it up some more. A few more good wacks. Still no go. My pickle fork is too narrow, so I'll stop by some place or other and get larger versions of both.

That's a big ball joint. After that, the brake bearing bracket bushings. (subframe)

I need to take some pics for you all.

Any thoughts.

I still haven't been able to get the joint free. I'll go to get a bigger puller in the morning. I also tried a pickle fork but that didn't work either. I think I'll put the joint under tension and freeze it. I don't have a torch.

wbain.. please make pictures :D

They are in the works. I'm working on one side right now and I'll get the procedures down and then take pics.

I got the joint seperated. I bought a larger two jaw puller and it popped the joint. Oh happy days.

Now I'm wrestling with the ball joint extraction process.

Here is a pic with most of the bits off. The ball joint was a PITA to get off but I did with a larger puller. You can see where I wacked it.

How'd That get In There?
 

I had some trouble getting the ball joint out of the spindle. I decided to try cooling it off a bit.

You could probably take the spindle to NAPA and I'll bet they're machine shop could get it out and a new one in. To get the new one in, the boot has to come off the b/joint. I took my spindles to my independent and had them get the old ones out and put the new ones in. They charged me $120 which I thought was WAY high, but it's fixed now. It was a w116 chasis, but it is similar to yours in that you can't use the "normal" b/joint press from Autozone, etc.
Thanks
David

Warren,
I got my lower ball joints out of the LCA using a 3lb sledge and a little heat. The left side took three whacks and it popped out of the arm, didn't have to heat. The right side took a bunch of whacks, then some heat and it popped out on the third whack. Caution in the whacking department...it's fairly tight quarters for a good swing AND when the joint comes free, if you forget to leave the nut on, the spindle goes flying.

PS: did you get the cc:mail I sent a couple weeks back? Asking because I know the ERO routers went down about the same time.

HI Mike, yes I did and I replied. I'll resend tonight when I get in.

The spindle is cooling it right now. ;)

I replaced the upper ctl. arms and the bushings. The factory decided to put the bolt in from the back side, the area woth no room and lots of little pipes. I'm going to get my daughter who had thin arms to help me with the nut and bolt.

Lots of other things to do, like clean out my dryer vents. They are about 1/3 to 1/2 full of lint. It's a fire hazard like that!

What a mess. I pressed out the ball joint carrier and lots of rust came out. Here is what the carrier looks like.

Here is a demo pic of the bushing being pushed out. I also cleaned up the bracket with a brush in my electric drill.

Here is a pic of the pullers I used on the spindle. The smaller one was OK for the upper ball joint but not the lower. The larger one worked great on the lower ball joint. I positioned it on the lower ball joint, tightened it and the joint separated while I was reaching around to get my hammer. (Yes, I left the nut in place).

(fixed a spelling error)

Completed, drivers side anyway.

Warren,
Just got back from California, I notice you cleaned the guide rod seat in the bearing bracket. Hopefully you didn't use too much elbow grease. While I was doing mine, Steve Brotherton mentioned a little tale of a guide rod monut he'd replaced many moons ago, and cleaned all the rust out of the seat. The result was the car still made the same clunk, not due to a bad mount but rather the mount slopping in the bracket.

Looks like the project is coming along nicely.

Excuse my ignorance, but I have to ask since I am getting ready to do a complete suspension overhaul here in about 3 weeks. What exactly are the pullers used for?? If the ball joint is pressed into the spindle..... :confused:

Also, without a press, will it be half impossible to get the bushings out of the bearing bracket?

I'm trying to get an idea of how many special gizmos I will need before I start this (ie puller, press, etc) or if I will be able to "get by" w/o any.