Lower ball joint

[callum]

Ayw up folks,
Van just back from the MOT, a couple of trivial faults, all easily sorted (both bulb replacements, oops!)

The third is a bit more a pain in the bottom...lower ball joint on offside.
Is this going to be a case of whole new wishbone or can the balljoint be fitted by itself? A bit depressing, as i thought i had gone around the van and ironed out the issues (track rod ends donw this morning too!).
Any help appreciated.

[Bongolia]

The lower front ball joint can be fitted but they can be a pig to get out.
Might be better to drop out the wishbone and get the MOT guys to press out the old one fit the new.
Joint cost on fleebay about 20.00ukp.

Sill looks good Callum

[Bongolia]

You should get it tracked after too.

[callum]

I was hoping you'd reply!

Is it muxh work to remove the wishbone? I'm assuming it'll be easy enough, just a faff. My dad suggested doing the same thing actually, so i may juat do that, save smashing the wishbone to bits with my mate lumpy!

Thanks about this sill, i'd imagine it looks ropey as hell to someome with your skills, but we work with what we got!

[teenmal]

Callum, before you think about replacing the ball joint , you need to make sure that the Wishbone is 100% , Mazda do not supply ball joints for these vehicles owing to the wishbone structure. And They are prone to corrosion/rust from the inside out.

[Bongolia]

Sorry Callum just picked up your post.
Easy job with a bit of luck and non seized bolts.
One bolt through the front and two holding a U cup at the rear and of course the lower ball joint nut.
As Teenmal says check the arm is fit enough to stick a ball joint in first.
There was a post on here about Muzaraw`s (think that`s how its spelt) showing his lower arm snapped around the U clamp end , that had had a recent MOT so check it yourself to be certain. Cannot seem to find it now

[Bongolia]

Oh, and sill does look good.

[callum]

Well, i've tried it my normal way, it has worked on every car i've done it on, but no, the blinking ball joint will not remove itself from the hub!
Jack on underside, chain around wishbone, jack handle inside chain and use the jack as a pivot, stand/bounce on handle and voilà. Nope. Beat handle with lumpy. Nope.

Ridiculous.

Going to borrow my dads balljoint splitter and give that a go, if not, i'll dump it at the garage and get them to do it.

Most frustrating.

[Bongolia]

Try this.
With the wishbone hanging and the chain or lever set up as you state.
Two lump hammers, one on the housing where the tapered ball joint passes through, apply downward pressure as you described and with a second heavy hammer whack the opposite side of the ball joint housing , so you are sandwiching the housing taper holding the ball joint between the hammers when you strike it.
Leave the ball joint nut on a few turns.
Never fails!
Unless I have miss-described it.

[Northern Bongolow]

best way ive found is to totally remove the nut, then jack so the jack is supporting under the disc not the wishbone, then whack the bottom of the swivel casting with a med weight hammer several times, the joint will drop apart. splitters dont usually work as the ball joint is a large diameter, it may wreck the rubber too.

[callum]

Finally had a chance to get it off today. Managed to get the ball joint out ok using a fork and a lumpy. Very quickly this morning, which was a pleasant surprise.
The garage is literally the other side of the road, so i took the wishbone off and asked them to press out the old and press in the new. Best £10 i've spent, i'm sure!
So a quick refit tomorrow morning and off for the hopeful foemality of a retest on Monday. Should be going on ebay on Sunday, so i will be giving it a thorough clean and polish tomorrow if the weather allows.




The wishbone was in surprisingly good condition, even the rubbers. I may give it a quick paint tomorrow just because.

[Northern Bongolow]

good job, what ball joint did you use as the bongo ones ive seen dont have circlips on the dust cover, they usually dont have a groove for the circlip to sit in.