tires and wheels 3 hours later and the front right is apart....

[Lars]

I started just before 5 and by almost 8 I had the entire right front suspension apart including brake caliper, rotor and hub off the rotor, control arm off and rubber bushings removed and the inner bearing race out. It's amazing that you can spend several months doing one side and the other only a matter of hours.

The amazing thing is that this was even with a stuck tierod and bearing that wouldn't budge. I had to use my hub puller for the tierod. The bearing was a little more difficult but I managed to break it apart and then use an angle grinder to cut it and then force it off.

When removing the rubber bushings from the control arm, use a big long wrench if you are using that $4 homemade bushing removal tool ($4 now because of extra washers). I used my torque wrench and each one only took about 5 minutes.

For those hub bolts, take your 1/2 wrench, your hex bit and the if you have it, the upper handle from your floor jack for a breaker bar (most important tool I have). Stick the hub upside down in one of your wheels and remove bolts, they will come free really quick.

Now, for the bad part, the ball joint boot is really bad on this side, it will need to be replaced. Drilling it out won't be a problem, but what size bolts do you use, my replacement ones didn't come with any?

[BillWilliams]

should give you the size of the bolts. The bolts that came with the ones I bought had grade 10 bolts. Remembe to orient the bolts with the head on top. Other way around will shred your boot.

[BillWilliams]

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=2583&mospid=47141&btnr=31_0436&hg=31&fg=05

Apparently, it assumes the unit is sold with the bolts.

Another thought, the control arms, with bushes, are not that much more than just replacing the bushes.

[napa02]

I just replaced my ball joints, If budget permits air tools are the way to go. an impact wrench solves just about all of the sticky fastener issues. the bolts for your ball joints are 8x1.25 3/4 of an inch long and are grade 5 (stamped 8.8 metric equiv of grade 5) not grade 8 , grade 8 is stronger but also more brittle, grade 5 is more likely to bend or stretch rather than break. also the use of nylock nuts to prevent them from backing off is a good idea, this is what came with my bj's hope this helps.

[Lars]

8.8 is the standard and everyone else makes it sound like the 10.2 is the one we should use. But I'll give it a try if I can't find the hardened ones. At least I know the size of the bolt now.