I recently took my 93 850 in for an auto trans flush and had the mechanic give it a good check over as well. One of the things he noticed was that the front left ball joint was loose. He recommended (for ease of the job and for positive handling benefits) that I just replace the control arm assembly, including ball joint, on both sides at my convenience. This looks like a pretty easy job (to do myself). Any gotchas?

The other day I jacked up the vehicle to see just how loose things are under there, and I couldn't get the control arm to budge near the ball joint when I tried to shake up up and down or side to side. Is there a something I don't understand here about how to check if a ball joint is loose, or is it really just not that loose?

 

If it is pretty loose when you move the tire up or down or side to side you should see play.

Or stick a big screwdriver or prybar between the control arm and hub and lift and watch for play.

 

tech,

Thanks. I'll jack it up again and check it out that way.

 

Ah, this reminds me of my very first post in this forum last September.

As to the ball joint, they're usually all right as long as the dust boots are not torn. If you do feel play, however, replacing them do contribute to better handling & safety.

I believe '93 ball joints can be replaced without replacing the entire control arm. Check to see if the ball joints are held in place bythree 10mm nuts on each side. If so, you only need to replace the ball joints & the 10mm lock nuts.

Dislodging the ball joints require quite a bit of violence & cursing. You need a chisel (punch) & hammer. First, remove the ball joint clamp bolt & nut. This is much harder than it sounds in some cases. You may have to spray plenty of PB Blaster and heat the clamp with torch (be careful not to melt the CV-joint boot; place a multiple-folded aluminium foil in between). If you have successfully removed the clamp bolt & nut, the next challenge is to remove the ball jointshank from the knuckle. I myself used chisel & hammer and kept hitting at the root of the ball joint stud (make sure you have new ball joints before you do this). The clamp part is so tight and there may be some rusts, and you also have to try removing it at the correct angle or it won't come off. Expect this to take longer time than you think.

If you have removed the ball joints, paste plenty of anti-seize compound around the clamp bolt shank & ball joint shank. Inserting the new ball joint shank may be hard too, so keep tapping it with plastic hammer or equivalent. Have new clamp bolts & nuts and tighten to specified torque.

Good luck, let me know if you need more help. Work safely.


JPN

 

Yes, 93 850s have bolt in ball joints, so you don't need to replace the control arm. Like JPn said, loosen the ball joint clamp and nut. here is a tip tho... go to your local autozone and for a ten dollar deposit you can rent a pickle fork. This is a metal rod shaped like a u at one end. take a nice small sledge and pound that baby in between the ball joint and clamp and that should cut down a little bit on your cursing... if the ball joint only comes partway out use a chisel to pound it out the rest of the way. oh.. and while your down there... check your tie rod ends.

 

>oh.. and while your down there... check your tie rod ends.

A nice touch indeed. May I also suggest inspecting the sway bar link rod connections?


JPN

 

lol always a good idea!!! c/v boots as well?? :-)

 

Of course!!!


JPN