Joys of fitting new wishbones.....

21st June 2011, 17:39

Followed the guide in the FAQ's in the suspension section, very good guide and useful... For one side of my car.... However, the other side is providing to be a complete arse ache.

As the picture shows, so near yet so far. I have tired jacking up from beneath the balljoint, pushing it in, no luck. Tried pushing the hub/strut inwards towards the car, again no luck. Also tired putting the balljoint in first, and putting the middle bolt through last, but that is always just out of place too, not giving me enough room to insert the bolt.

Any ideas on what route to take now? I'm thinking of just packing it up with some cooper grease, see if that allows it to slip on easier, obviously the last thing I want to be doing is making suspension components like a slip and slide. Thoughts?

21st June 2011, 17:54

make sure the ball joint is going up straight and not on a angle.

21st June 2011, 17:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by beardyboy

make sure the ball joint is going up straight and not on a angle.

Tried that, the angle of the strut, just does not allow it to slip in, it needs to be at a 45 degree angle in order for it to line up to the strut, otherwise it's not even lined up to the hole at all.

21st June 2011, 18:54

you sure the driveshaft is properly home cos if you put a crowbar in where the the inner wishbone mount is and lever down, push the whole hub/leg in it should be fine,you also need to straighten the bottom swivel up cos its at too much of an angle hth ;-)

21st June 2011, 19:44

You got a ratchet strap? thats popular method .

Pair of spring compressors - helps get the bottom of the strut UP to make it easier to get the base of the strut IN wards to allow the ball joint peg to pop in.

Fiddly I know did mine last week. _ I did the spring compressor route.

29th June 2011, 23:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by muttonjeff

You got a ratchet strap? thats popular method .

Pair of spring compressors - helps get the bottom of the strut UP to make it easier to get the base of the strut IN wards to allow the ball joint peg to pop in.

Fiddly I know did mine last week. _ I did the spring compressor route.

Thanks for your reply mate, going to try these methods when I get my new balljoint pressed in as the other balljoint began to leak grease from the base. Will update how it went as soon as I give it a go

30th June 2011, 00:43

Dont understand how your getting a problem, aslong as the drive shaft is in correctly then that arm will push down with a bar and the ball joint should slot in fine to the hub once you push it towards the car abit

30th June 2011, 00:50

I sometimes put a trolley jack under the hub and jack it up "just a lil bit" I find it helps it slide it easier.

30th June 2011, 10:09

Make sure the other side of the car is in the air to take the preload off the ARB, that'll help you out. Really shouldn't be difficult though!

9th July 2011, 17:06

Right, to update the thread, reading through the replies, helped me determine the main cause of the problem was, well myself... lol. I took the driveshaft out, had a look at the bolts in the intermediate bearing and because I put them in first, them were stopping the driveshaft going in all the way... Should of taken more note of the position of the bolts when I took them out in the first place. Lesson learnt

Thanks for all the advice people, helped greatly