Replacing Lower Ball joint 1993 190E
 

Do I have to remove the control arm from the vehicle and then remove the ball joint from the control arm or can I simply loosen the bolt that hold the ball joint and then somehow take out the ball joint from the suspension?

Thanks

The ball joint requires PRESSING both out & the new one in!

I think its like the 124 arms. I was able to it without taking the arm off the car. I jacked up the car, removed the wheel, then lowered the arm onto a stable block. This will prevent the spring from shooting out and ruining your day. I also used an appropriately shaped piece of plywood as a shield in front of the spring if something unforeseen were to happen and if the spring were to come out it would stay safely behind the plywood.

I made a puller/pusher from M24 threaded bar and nuts and some hefty pieces of steel. If you dont have access to a lathe or welder then you may have to buy or rent an appropriate puller.

There is a bit of a grunt in fitting the strut botttom over the new ball joint, I loosened the strut top mount to help me with this.

Safety should be your primary concern in this job, but with a bit of planning it is relatively straight forward.

They need to be pressed out. I could not find a press that would work so I kinda did it with a few C Clamps, a pulley puller, a big hammer/mallet and a lot of swearing. Getting them in is the easy part, it is getting them out that sucks a$$.

I used a chain through the control arm and spring as a precaution and highly recommend this. When the control arm comes down there is very little holding the spring in. I used a 4x4 balljoint press to get mine out and back in. Worked great and quite inexpensive. I've since used it on another vehicle so it's more than paid for itself.

Jorg

I ordered a heavy duty ball joint remover from JC Whitney. It pulls the ball without destroying the rubber boot... or so I'm told. Now I need a tool to get the new one back in the socket. I hear Auto Zone lends them out. If not I have to figure something else out.

Thanks guys.

You should have a spring compressor or chain the spring to keep things safe...


I've got a collar which makes the job pretty easy using the Autozone free ball joint press... I'd lend it out for some shipping and a 6 pack.

Or YOU CAN JUST HAVE ONE MADE. Find a machine shop(not automotive stuff), and measure up a sleeve- all they need is a piece of 4130 and a lathe. Tell them, no rush- cheap and on space avaliable.. don't want to pay $250/hr.

Michael

samiam4,

Would you happen to have the dimensions of the sleeve that you made?

I suspect that this "remover" is actually a separator. It is used to "disconnect" the ball joint tapered stud. That is a completely separate process from removing the ball joint where it is press fit.

Yep,

Let's see- cannot find my calipers...

The OD is 2.5, It's 2.25 ID on one side- about 1.2" deep. The other side is your ball joint OD (? 39.75mm). Make the whole thing 1.5" long. Very simple- especially if you can find a piece of scrape the right size. OD doesn't matter so much- you could use 2.75 or 3".

Michael

You probably have item "K" which is a good tool if you need to re-use the ball joint/boot but if you are replacing them you can just use a pickle fork, items "L". What you need now is the ball joint press, item "P". I was able to do mine without an adapter but I will make one up for next time. Again, chain your spring to the control arm!!

Jorg

PS. prices are Cdn$