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E28 Lower Control Arm Replacement... and thoughts on Driver's School

Hi all.

Let's get back to our originally scheduled show, shall we?

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed the Driver's School at NHIS last weekend.  The
Boston Chapter of the CCA has some truly outstanding individuals, and I
encourage any CCA member here on the net to participate. 

However, I must admit, with a high mileage car, I underestimated,
somewhat, the actual costs of the school.  While the $90 entrance fee is
incredibly reasonable, for anyone considering attending one, consider the
preparatory costs, as well as the costs of damage control.  The obvious
lemma is that the more time/money invested prior to school, the less
time/money required after school (usually 8^)). 

I broke this rule.  Specifically, after not replacing the original lower
control arms (containing lower ball joints and lower control arm bushings)
with 227k miles on them (I can envision Bjorn wincing as he reads this
8^)), I blew apart a wheel bearing.  So, instead of spending a gorgeous
weekend in the mountains after school, as I drove there, the bearing got
louder and louder.  The E28 front bearings are pretty expensive, and even
more expensive when you've got ABS (I don't), and they're a sealed unit. 
I limped home and spent the better part of Saturday searching for a new
wheel bearing, and Sunday in the Zen Buddhist exercise of conquering the
bolts. 

Having suffered some pain, and learned a bit, here is the definitive
procedure.  If you have reasonable mechanical competence, this is surely a
do-it-yourself job.  I can add this one to the list of "why did I ever pay
someone??" jobs. 

NOTE: This work was done with the rear wheels on ramps, and the front
wheels on jack stands (with the floor jack remaining in place... just in
case).  A lift indeed isn't required, although it would have made the job
a bit easier. 

1: Conquer the thru-bolt at the bushing.  If yours is rusty, replace it.
It's an M12 x 1.5 pitch x 77mm long.  Loosen the bolt, although don't
remove it yet.  Leaving it in place makes it easier to loosen and to
remove the ball joint. 

2. Without removing the brakes (unless you are an idiot and blew your
wheel bearing, too 8^)), remove the 3 17mm bolts at the bottom of the
strut tower.  This will allow you to access the locking nut holding on the
ball joint.  It will also allow you to twist around the strut tower to
give you adequate access to this nut.  This was not intuitively obvious to
me, and it ended up being very helpful. 

3. The original nut is the typical cotter-pin style that was made in the
early 80's. 8^) The new one has the plastic insert.  While the ball joint
is still pressed in place, a 22mm socket on a 1/2-inch drive breaker bar
or torque wrench (is it true you shouldn't use a torque wrench to ever
*loosen* anything?) works quite well.  An offset box-end was recommended,
but I found it to be unworkable. 

4. Once this nut is removed, the difficult work of removing the ball joint 
begins.  On the driver's side, with a judicious amount of Rost-Off (liquid
wrench to you yanks), a ball joint fork, the heat of a mapp gas torch (with 
a wet sock protecting the thrust arm joint's boot), and a large hammer 
applied strategically to one end of the lower control arm, it popped out.  
If you have to apply excessive force, you should support the bottom of this
assembly since it isn't being supported by the strut tower (with those three
bolts removed).  I used my old wimpier floor jack to counter the forces of 
the blows on the lower control arm.  On the passenger side, I cursed in 
three languages.  And I only speak one! 8^)  But seriously, this one was 
a humdinger.  The trick was to put the nut on the top of the ball joint so 
that it is held on by maybe a few threads.  Then, put back those three bolts
holding the assembly to the strut tower.  They won't go in fully, because 
this nut will hit against the bottom of the strut tower.  This is the 
key - I found that if you tighten these down, the strut tower presses the 
ball joint right out of the socket!!!  Simplicity itself.

4.  Installation is the reverse of removal.  Get your torque specs from your
favorite manual. 8^)  And follow Don's advice about tightening the thru
bolts with the car on the ground and you'll be all set.

One side note: If you ever need to replace a wheel bearing, don't panic, 
as I did, if the inner race pops out of the new wheel bearing before you 
tap it onto the spindle.  The solution to reinserting it is the following,
thanks to our friend, Roland Freund:
Remove the rear seal.  Then remove the bearings, carefully, in its cage.
Then slide the bearings around the race and reinsert it.  Reinsert the
seal, evenly.  Fortunately, if the outer race comes out, you can insert
it by simply placing it in the hub at an angle, and it slips in place.
Also, another hint:  To tap the new hub/bearing assembly onto the spindle, 
*don't* hit the hub or the outer race will surely pop out.  Take the 
1-13/16 (or 46mm) socket that you used to get the nut off, place it over 
the outer race, and tap away.

I hope this helps.  *I* surely won't forget it. 8^)

Thanks to Roland Freund for his technical advice, Jim Conforti for his
moral support and male bonding (he usually torques electrons and 
passengers 8^)), and Charles Karnati for the 1-13/16 socket and the 
torque specs.  I gotta figure with all the help they gave me for this
unscheduled maintenance, posting this procedural blurb was the least I 
could do... 8^)

I conquered the bolts.  Amen. 8^)

 .steve.

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Steven J. Bernstein                       Home: bernstein@domain.elided
P.O. Box 11242                            Work:    bernstein@domain.elided
Hauppauge, NY 11788 USA      __________   Home:     (1) 516 696 2841
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