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Hack Mechanic Ball Joint Replacement :)


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Good Afternoon Fellow 02'ers,

 

Doing my ball joints after neglecting them for far too long, I have left everything soaking for quite a bit and was able to get the three nuts and bolts that are holding the ball joint onto the control arm loosened up with no issues but am struggling to approach the next steps. Do I loosen the lower control arm to gain more access to the 14mm nuts to the bottom of the strut?

 

picture is not mine, I am ashamed of my garage at this time as my wife and I look for our first house!

 

Any guidance is greatly appreciated :)

 

 image.thumb.png.6ac6310a25138a7cb9a119ea524633f7.png

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I'm just going through this myself. I was able to access the 14mm bolts by way of attaching a short 14mm socket to a long extension and apply gentle force with the extension to manuever the socket to seat onto the bolt securely. It will deflect the metal dust shield slightly but once removed the shield is undamaged. Good luck

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25 minutes ago, Freude am Fahren said:

I'm just going through this myself. I was able to access the 14mm bolts by way of attaching a short 14mm socket to a long extension and apply gentle force with the extension to manuever the socket to seat onto the bolt securely. It will deflect the metal dust shield slightly but once removed the shield is undamaged. Good luck

Ah that does make sense! I'll give it a shot tomorrow. Were you able to sneak the ball bearing and arm off once the nuts where off? 

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You can also put a jack underneath the ball joint and slowly raise the suspension until you can gain access to the 14mm bolt closest to the control arm.  Be gentle with those safety-wired bolts, as they have a tendency to shear off if they're old.  

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Engine bay OCD is a real problem

 

@02carbs 

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Once the bolts are undone, depending on what your situation is you should be able to push down on the arm to gain clearance to slide the ball out. If not, you can always compress the strut to create room to remove the ball. This can be done with placing the jack under the rotor

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Welp, it happened!! 

 

After years of rust, grime, and probably a personal vendetta, one of my bolts decided to snap off in the strut, leaving me to face its evil twin, which now has me in a full-on hostage situation. I've tried everything—heat, penetrating oil, yelling, crying, more heat—none of it seems to budge this stubborn little F@%$. So I did what any reasonable person would do: left it overnight to think about its crimes while it soaked in more penetrating oil. Meanwhile, I'm on a quest to find replacement bolts. Sure, I could shell out $12 a pop for the original (32211113178), but I’m a man on a mission—and that mission involves a budget tighter than these bolts.

 

I know these are M8, does anyone know the pitch? 

 

Honestly this may need a @Mike Self assist...I rarely call on his superpowers. 

 

Rafael

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I know it sounds scary and counter-intuitive, but I was able to zip 2 out of 3 of mine off with an impact wrench and an extension.  Just....go slow.  

 

Also, I would be wary of going with non-oem bolts.  I know they're expensive, but if your replacement bolts fail for any reason, you're gonna have a bad time.

 

Plenty of people have used non-oem with red loctite and have been fine.  Personally, I'd rather have the peace of mind.

 

My 02 cents.

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Engine bay OCD is a real problem

 

@02carbs 

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If you take grade 12.9 Hex bolts and loctite you're fine.
Allen head bolts are more of a problem as the head is taller and interferes  with the control arm when suspension is off the ground.

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2 hours ago, Leucadian said:

I know it sounds scary and counter-intuitive, but I was able to zip 2 out of 3 of mine off with an impact wrench and an extension.  Just....go slow.  

 

Also, I would be wary of going with non-oem bolts.  I know they're expensive, but if your replacement bolts fail for any reason, you're gonna have a bad time.

 

Plenty of people have used non-oem with red loctite and have been fine.  Personally, I'd rather have the peace of mind.

 

My 02 cents.

 

My impact is just not strong enough it seems! (Makita, lil one). I understand the concern with the bolts, I do tend to stick with OE whenever possible but $12-$13 a pop is painful (Although my ball joint leaving its home would be more painful). I will check to see if my local hardware store has any 12.9 hex M8 x 1.25, if not I will bite the bullet and pick some up from Blunttech. 

 

First step is removal! 

 

Rafael 

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6 hours ago, Santawillis said:

I will check to see if my local hardware store has any 12.9 hex M8 x 1.25

 

If your hardware store doesn't have them, get them here!

 

Mark92131

 

BELMETRIC.COM

Bel-Metric sells metric hardware & specialty automotive supplies worldwide. Visit our website to purchase metric fasteners, nuts, bolts, screws, washers & more.

 

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1970 BMW 1600 (Nevada)

 

 

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Unfortunately, the bolt that was holding me hostage has decided to let me down and also break. 

 

I ordered 6 new bolts from Blunttech so OEM it is! 

 

Time to whip out the welder and see if I can get these bolts out, wish me luck.

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On 10/3/2024 at 10:42 AM, Santawillis said:

Meanwhile, I'm on a quest to find replacement bolts. Sure, I could shell out $12 a pop for the original (32211113178), but I’m a man on a mission—and that mission involves a budget tighter than these bolts.

 

I know these are M8, does anyone know the pitch? 

 

Honestly this may need a @Mike Self assist...I rarely call on his superpowers. 

I must be very lucky...or something.  I've done ball joints twice, and dismantled those three bolts several times over the years, and have never broken one.  It did help back in the 1980s when I first did the separation, that I put anti-seize paste on the threads before reassembling.  

 

I wouldn't use anything but the OEM bolts there.  They're hardened, and made to be safety wired.  With the safety wire you can put a little anti-seize on the threads and not have to worry about them unscrewing themselves.  With broken off bolts, I think I'd either take it to a machine shop to have 'em drilled out so the original threads won't get messed up, or find a good used one with no broken off bolts.  That's a pretty critical part so you don't want to skimp here to save a couple of bucks.  One of the three bolts is a through bolt, but the other two screw into blind holes, so extraction is gonna be tricky.  

 

I did have a real hassle removing one of the ball joints itself.  The castle nut inside it's little compartment wasn't recognizable as anything but a lump of metal so took a lot of grinding with a Dremel tool/cutoff wheel to get things apart. 

 

Back in 2007, I did a couple of columns on refurbishing the entire front suspension on my 73; PM me if you'd like a copy.

 

mike

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'69 Nevada sunroof-Wolfgang-bought new
'73 Sahara sunroof-Ludwig-since '78
'91 Brillantrot 318is sunroof-Georg Friederich 
Fiat Topolini (Benito & Luigi), Renault 4CVs (Anatole, Lucky Pierre, Brigette) & Kermit, the Bugeye Sprite

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