Replacing ball joint and lower control arm bushings tips?

[crazy9ceguy]

Im about to take off the lower control arm in the front of my 95 s14 to replace it with some moog ball joints and energy suspension lower control arm bushings. Are there any tips for removing and installing it? Or is it just a straight forward thing?

[Stock-S13]

Machine shop.

It can be done, but for the trouble just not worth it. Installing... I have heard guys that broke there vices in the process. Your from So. cal call up Santa Ana or those type cities and get prices. I had to get mine done in SB, 19 dollars/arm.

[idlafie]

Originally Posted by Stock-S13

Machine shop.

It can be done, but for the trouble just not worth it. Installing... I have heard guys that broke there vices in the process. Your from So. cal call up Santa Ana or those type cities and get prices. I had to get mine done in SB, 19 dollars/arm.

HUH?? Not worth it?? I disagree....I helped my buddy do a 5 lug swap on his S13 & we took his lower control arms to a local run-down, beat-up, mom & pop, 50's-60's style auto mechanic repair shop that was just down the street from my local auto parts store - the auto parts store recommended the place. The guy that ran the shop charged us $20 bucks for swapping out both ball joints. Doing the lower control arm bushings was just as easy. Any mom & pop mechanic shop with a press can do this for you in less than an hour. All depends on how cool the owner/mechanic is & how busy he is. The guy we took it to told us it took him less than 10 minutes to do the work..and he was goofing off during those 10 minutes - he told us!!. Any suspension or wheel alignment shop ought to be able to do the same thing for you in about the same time.
Anyhow, hope this helps...
ID
'95 SE

[ryan hagen]

i did my own, used a press for the ball joints, and a press for the steel in the bushings and then burnt out the extra rubber, took me about a hour total.

[sncs14]

if you don't have access to a press take it somewhere that does. i worked at an automotive specific machine shop and the best way to put them back together is to use a press and old sealed bearing casings.

remove control arm from car, put control arm on solid surface, remove the lock ring and hit the ball joint with a big ass hammer. it doesn't matter if you break the joint, you don't need it any more.may want to soak it with some pb blaster first too.

use nismo bushings the extra cost is worth it to not have the hassle of using cheap ones

[Jeff240sx]

Originally Posted by sncs14

remove control arm from car, put control arm on solid surface, remove the lock ring and hit the ball joint with a big ass hammer. it doesn't matter if you break the joint, you don't need it any more.may want to soak it with some pb blaster first too.

use nismo bushings the extra cost is worth it to not have the hassle of using cheap ones

Don't listen to this guy. First, once the ball joint is out (if it comes out that way), you won't be able to get it back in. Second, I disagree about the Nismo bushings (reasoning to follow).
As someone who just did this maintenance two weeks ago, this is very fresh in my head, as is/was the aggrivation.

For the ball joints, buy a ball joint press kit. It's $25 at harbor freight. It's a giant C-clamp with deep cups for catching the joint. Using a hammer will take forever, as I used a 1-foot long box wrench and a TON of force turning on the clamp. You'd need so much power behind the hammer that a miss would be devastating to the LCA.
Next is pressing the new ball joint in. The ball joint press kit has reverse cups for pressing. Using a hammer.. I really can't imagine how to *CORRECTLY* install the ball joint.
When spending $70 on the ball joints, and 2 hours of installation, why not buy the right $25 tool?

Next is the LCA bushing. The stock bushings are rubber with a metal sleeve. The FSM says to heat the LCA and press the metal sleeve out. Then remove the rubber (doesn't say how, but a torch makes a quick, smelly job of the rubber). Install the new bush into the stock sleeve, and press back in. Whiteline is the only bushing that comes with new sleeves. And you can't buy the stock sleeve from Nissan. Or the whole stock bushing. Nissan only sells LCA *arms* if you can't reuse that sleeve. When I was pressing, I destroyed one of those sleeves.. and had to wait 10 days for a new Whiteline bushing set to arrive from Canada. If I were to do it again, I'd just get the Whitelines. And, with the Whiteline bushings, you don't need to torch (and gag, and smell terrible for the rest of the day) out the old rubber bushings. Just replace the whole deal. Whiteline is 100% the way to go here. So is the ball joint kit.
-Jeff

[sw20>>s14]

i dont know about replacing ball joints, but to separate the lower from the spindle/knuckle, i used a puller and it just popped off...

edit: didnt realize that this was a semi-old post, but yeah....

[Ritz S14]

One month old. I bumped it up, but deleted my post. But, anywho thanks for the info guys. I'll try the BFH, if that doesn't work, I'll get a BJ puller.

[kazuo]

My friend's dad did the bash-it-with-a-hammer trick and it works fine. You just have to hit it at the proper angle and such. Came out with one blow. It was SICK.

But ya, unless your dad is as cool as his dad, take it to a machine shop and let them do it.

[Ritz S14]

Ok. Just replaced the ball joint. It's F***ING CAKE!

Remove LCA, walk over to vice, with ball joint facing down, with lots of force, slam downwards, it out it comes. Press in, and install.