Kevin
Well-Known LVC Member
Did the upper ball joint on the left side yesterday, what a job that was.
First a thank-you to those who have posted their results, by gleaning bits and pieces from other people's posts, I have successfully completed this task myself as well.
Here's a bit of a writeup for those who in the future do this repair, a few minutes of my typing may help somebody else out with some details.
My 94 has springs instead of airbags, and they do not need to be removed to get the nuts+bolts out.
I didn't buy a ratcheting wrench, got by with a plain jane 18mm wrench, but a ratcheting one would have worked better. I'm just too cheap to buy a set for $100 (couldn't find one by itself).
There is no need to cut an access hole for the back bolt, or pull back the fender liner.
Take off the plastic brake reservoir - twist to clear the prongs, and pull up. Flip it upside down and position towards the front of the car. There are three 13mm bolts holding on the aluminum piece with 2 brake lines (as well as a wiring bracket) attached to the brake thingy, unbolt them, and pull the aluminum piece forward over the center of the shock tower WITHOUT breaking or stretching the brake lines too far. There is room to safely pull it that far, do it slowly, and watch the lines don't get caught on other parts. I couldn't figure out how to remove the black round plastic thingy attached to the brake thingy, so I left it there. Removing that would give more turning radius for the wrench, but you can do it with it still in place. You should now have somewhat 'easy' access to that back bolt, it's a slow go - but that's the hardest part of the job.
Remove front nut. Remove nut AND bolt holding the ball joint to the spindle, then take a chisel or big screwdriver, get the 'pinch' part of the spindle to open a little. Use a hammer and pound the arm down, control arm will be loose.
Again, you don't have to remove the shock+spring. Wiggle the bolts back/out, they will take turning and wiggling to get around the spring, as they should have tabs on them that get in the way. DO NOT break the tabs off, they allow you to retighten the nuts without messing around with holding a wrench on the bolt.
Have fun!
First a thank-you to those who have posted their results, by gleaning bits and pieces from other people's posts, I have successfully completed this task myself as well.
Here's a bit of a writeup for those who in the future do this repair, a few minutes of my typing may help somebody else out with some details.
My 94 has springs instead of airbags, and they do not need to be removed to get the nuts+bolts out.
I didn't buy a ratcheting wrench, got by with a plain jane 18mm wrench, but a ratcheting one would have worked better. I'm just too cheap to buy a set for $100 (couldn't find one by itself).
There is no need to cut an access hole for the back bolt, or pull back the fender liner.
Take off the plastic brake reservoir - twist to clear the prongs, and pull up. Flip it upside down and position towards the front of the car. There are three 13mm bolts holding on the aluminum piece with 2 brake lines (as well as a wiring bracket) attached to the brake thingy, unbolt them, and pull the aluminum piece forward over the center of the shock tower WITHOUT breaking or stretching the brake lines too far. There is room to safely pull it that far, do it slowly, and watch the lines don't get caught on other parts. I couldn't figure out how to remove the black round plastic thingy attached to the brake thingy, so I left it there. Removing that would give more turning radius for the wrench, but you can do it with it still in place. You should now have somewhat 'easy' access to that back bolt, it's a slow go - but that's the hardest part of the job.
Remove front nut. Remove nut AND bolt holding the ball joint to the spindle, then take a chisel or big screwdriver, get the 'pinch' part of the spindle to open a little. Use a hammer and pound the arm down, control arm will be loose.
Again, you don't have to remove the shock+spring. Wiggle the bolts back/out, they will take turning and wiggling to get around the spring, as they should have tabs on them that get in the way. DO NOT break the tabs off, they allow you to retighten the nuts without messing around with holding a wrench on the bolt.
Have fun!
) without any cutting ? See one of my customer's car ...
