Play in wheel+bad cornering.. ball joints? [UPDATE 2]

[TheRoadWarrior]

Car has not been cornering well recently, 4 months back i had an alignment and all was well but since its been gradually getting worse.

The car feels very loose on corners, major understeer and generally feels very insecure.

I jacked the front wheels today and theres quite a lot of play when i push at the top and bottom, when i push at the front and rear theres also movement, although less- however this is accompanied with a metalic ting-ting creaking sort of sound?

I've also got steering wheel shake at 60+ mph. Where should i start looking, ball joints?

(I'm on standard shocks, 25mm lowering springs and poly bushes)

Can any one recomend a decent ball joint separater, i dont feel like bashing the suspension arms with a lump hammer.

[jonb-]

Ball joints or quite possibly the hub. Either way I'd try not to drive it until you're sure.

[TheRoadWarrior]

Seriously, dont drive it? Its been getting worse but it only feels 'iffy' when i push it. What'll happen if i keep driving it?

I have ball joints on order from the stealership, i'm probably overdue a replacement anyway- i'm gonna get the car in the air again next week and see if i can track down the source of the movement.

[jonb-]

A dodgy balljoint wouldn't be the end of the world but if the hub failed things could go very bad very quickly (not that i've ever heard of that though).

imHo get it up on a jack ASAP, take the wheel off and work out where the play is coming from.

[alan mc]

Hi, I've just changed the lower balljoints on the front of my tubby after experiencing chronic steering wheel shake at 60-70 m.p.h. it was beginning to make driving a pain. Anyway I found changing the balljoints a bit of a ball-ache if you'll pardon the pun. There was no way I could seperate the balljoints in situ so I removed the lower arms completely and gave the joint a good whack from the top, you'll find that you just can't get any sort of leverage when it's still on the car and the balljoint seperators are just a joke. Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on when you receive your joints. By the way the new balljoints got rid of the steering wheel shake.

[TheRoadWarrior]

thanks alan, always good to hear from someone who's done it!

Ball joints turned up today, i'm going to attempt it on sunday.

question: if I need to take the lower arm off, and assuming i've jacked the car just on that side (other wheel on the ground twisting the arb) is there any problem with twist in the arb? will it push the strut out making it difficult to reattach the arm? anything else to be aware of when removing the lower arm?

[nailmonkey]

I've just had all four ball joints done, the difference is significant considering they didn't really have any play in them before! Only droplinks to go and I have replaced every suspension component! I can't stand sloppy, vague suspension/steering.

My top tip for fitting them? Pay someone else to do it. It cost me £88 today to have them fitted (I supplied the joints) only took the garage 2.5 hours. It took me longer than that last Sunday to jack up the car and break two ball joint removal tools before giving up!!

HTH,

Nik

[alan mc]

thanks alan, always good to hear from someone who's done it!

Ball joints turned up today, i'm going to attempt it on sunday.

question: if I need to take the lower arm off, and assuming i've jacked the car just on that side (other wheel on the ground twisting the arb) is there any problem with twist in the arb? will it push the strut out making it difficult to reattach the arm? anything else to be aware of when removing the lower arm?

It is a bit arkward, and the air around me was a putrid blue colour but Nailmonkey had a good plan if you don't fancy doing it yourself.

[TheRoadWarrior]

UPDATE. Right, done the fronts. Wasnt too hard at all, i did have to take the lower arms off to get the old joints out, but no biggie. I had a ball joint separator but i was finding it impossible to get it on while the arm was on the car.

The difference is like night and day! Car feels a lot more positive in the corners, the understeer has gone and the steering feels a lot more planted. Haven't done any motorway yet, so i dont know if the steering shake has gone.

However, i do still have a fair bit of play in the left wheel, which i believe is the wheel bearing... so thats the next job on the list!!

Had a look at the BGB, looks like lots of SST's required, anyone done it themselves? Is it difficult? What do i need to purchase to replace the toyota SST's??

Took a few pics of the wheel bearing job, what you need to remove etc. If they're any use to anyone i'll post 'em.

[alan mc]

Well done.

I haven't got a clue about the wheel bearing, only ever done one on a Mini, the old sort.

Be grateful for knowledge, tools, pitfalls, etc.

[TheRoadWarrior]

Done some more work tonight; passenger side rear changed. Initially looked easier than the front, i disconnected the 2 bolts on the balljoint and the balljoint separator slipped straight on! Great i thought!!

Hurmm, the threaded section on the the rear BJoints is thicker than the fronts and the tapered part is also bigger. Which all means a lot more force is needed to crack them loose (At least on mine!) I just couldnt get enough leverage with the lower arm on the car, so off it came. Even on the floor it was tricky, thought the separator was going to sheer in half at one point! Sharp tap from a hammer, combined with the tension from the sepatator on the threaded end of the BJoint popped it loose.

Getting the lower arm back on was a pain in the butt too. Only way i found to do it was to put the 3 BJoint bolts/nuts in loosely, then the lower arm to subframe bolt. Then to get the tension rod to body bolt in you need to jack the hub up.. easiest way to do this is put the jack under the bottom of the BJoint. This allows the bolt holes to line up and the bolt slots in.

[Cliff]

Does anyone know if the Mk2 na balljoints are the same as the mk2 turbo?

[djpkins]

the reason ball joints are hard to seperate is they have whats called a morse taper (prob spelled wrong)...the way they are seated is to stop them vibrating apart..lol..you can hit them all day long with a hammer to no effect sometimes...use the correct tool , a puller or pusher and it will make the job sooooo much easier...respect to you for getting your hands dirty and doing though...well done.

[TheRoadWarrior]

woo back from the dead!

Weird reading that, was back from when i was just starting working on my car.. hadnt had it long.. am also now replacing things for the 2nd time, i think some of my wheel bearings are on the way again...


btw Ciff; na balljoints are the same as far as i know?