I’m replacing the front control bushings and putting in turbo tie rods.

Which is easier to get the control arm out?
1.) Removing the strut and the ball joint from the control arm, or
2.) Removing the strut from the ball joint and leaving the ball joint in the control arm.

QUOTE (chris914 @ May 9 2005, 09:34 PM)

I’m replacing the front control bushings and putting in turbo tie rods. Which is easier to get the control arm out? 1.) Removing the strut and the ball joint from the control arm, or 2.) Removing the strut from the ball joint and leaving the ball joint in the control arm.

#2 option by far is the easiest.....

#2

Once you have your balljoint bolt/pin removed place a jack under the rotor hat and jack it up a ways to take the load off, whack the A-arm with a BFH a couple times and it will pop right off. Those nuts on the ball joint are a bitch to remove, I waited till I got an alignment and had the shop replace them, they only charged me an hour but said it took them over a couple hours to bust them free.

Number 2!

I lost track of what I was doing and accidentally wound up doing in the Number 1 way. No fun.

I have the appropriate ball joint nut socket if you want to borrow it.

loosen the balljoint/control arm clamping nut before you pull the top of the balljoint out of the strut.

k

QUOTE (Travis Neff @ May 9 2005, 09:22 PM)

Once you have your balljoint bolt/pin removed place a jack under the rotor hat and jack it up a ways to take the load off, whack the A-arm with a BFH a couple times and it will pop right off. Those nuts on the ball joint are a bitch to remove, I waited till I got an alignment and had the shop replace them, they only charged me an hour but said it took them over a couple hours to bust them free.

"A couple of hours"? For a job that shouldn't take over 10-15 minutes per side? Even if the ball joints were stuck in the struts, it still shouldn't have taken even a half hour per side.
Perhaps they didn't have a clue .......................... The Cap'n

perhaps not, but they were complaining up a storm when I picked them up. Of course they wer nice enough align the car and not check the super loose wheelbearings in the front either so who knows..