jadziasman

I decided to make this write up to help the next guy. I searched extensively for help with this before I started but wound up having to improvise as usual. If you follow the procedure below, you shouldn't have any trouble. I will start with the front end of the car already up on jack stands, wheels removed and hood open. This procedure is meant for those looking to replace ucas. This procedure also is meant for those who are smart enough to have a helm manual - paper or pdf for reference. Imho - you need this manual but feel free to wing it if you are brave.

1) Remove the cotter pin from the castle nut.
2 Use your floor jack and lift the suspension from the stud on the lower ball joint.
You will need to jack up the suspension far enough so that it is nearly at its
compressed height on the ground. You will find out later why this helps.
The purpose here is to put a load on the upper ball joint so that the castle nut will
turn without the ball joint turning - can happen if the suspension is hanging down.
3) Loosen the castle nut to nearly the end of the ball joint screw thread.
4) Use a ball joint separator to pop the ball joint out of the steering knuckle. I used
a pickle fork but any method that safely gets the ball joint out of the knuckle
will do fine. Use a bungee cord to hold the knuckle to the damper spring.
5) Remove the two nuts on the uca on the strut tower in the engine bay.
6) Remove the two nuts that fasten the damper assembly to the strut tower. The
damper needs to be lowered so that the uca can be moved past the damper
spring. I tried to get the uca past the damper spring without moving the damper
sorry no can do - there is just not enough clearance to get the uca around that
spring. Grrrrrrrrrr.
7) Now that you have the uca nuts and damper nuts removed from the strut tower
you are ready to lower the suspension so that it hangs at full extension. Remove
the floor jack from the lower ball joint stud. Now, carefully pull down on the
damper to get the upper part out of the strut tower. Do not lose control of it
because you do not want to pull out your inner CV joint accidentally. Once the
center section of the damper has cleared the strut tower hole you have enough
space to move the uca past the damper spring down far enough on the damper
so that you can remove the bushing assembly from the control arm. You do this
by removing the nuts and bolts from the bushings and pull the control arm away.
8) Now you can start putting the new uca in. You start by removing the bushing
assembly so you can mount the new uca in the strut tower. Join the bushing
assy and the control arm with the two nuts and bolts and torque them to
20 ft lbs. The bushings will feel stiff but that's good - you want them that way.
Just be sure you line them up well so that when you lift the new uca into the strut
tower it will fit into it. If you can get nuts started on the threads
you can pull the uca all the way up by tightening the nuts. Do this first before
reinstalling the damper into the strut tower.
9) Now comes the tricky part -getting the damper back into the strut tower. Get the
floor jack again and lift the suspension from the lower ball joint stud as before.
Carefully guide the damper back into the strut tower. You might have to use a
breaker bar or pry bar to center the damper in the strut tower - I did. Tighten
the two nuts on the damper.
10) Now, lower the floor jack again enough to install the uca ball joint into the
steering knuckle. Now jack up the suspension again to nearly the compressed
height on the ground. The point here again is to put a load on the ball joint so
that you can tighten the castle nut on the ball joint without the ball joint spinning.
This is kind of important since it is easy to strip that thread - I did it accidentally
when changing the half shaft. It is not fun to remove that stripped castle nut.
11) Tighten the castle nut enough to insert the cotter pin. Do not loosen the castle
nut to line it up with the hole - always go tighter so be careful when you get
close to the point of having the hole with enough clearance for the cotter pin.
Meaning do not tighten too far or you might strip the thread. This at least I
have not done, yet. LOL!!!
12) Lower the floor jack and enjoy a cool drink and get ready to do side 2.
13) After side 2 is finished you are ready to try out your new front ucas. Let me tell
you - it is really nice to have new steering on a 16.5 year old car!!!!!!!

I will be happy to add to or clarify these steps. Sorry but I did not have time for
pictures. Sometimes the written word is all you need. GOOD LUCK!!!!!


Modified by jadziasman at 7:22 PM 4/5/2008


Modified by jadziasman at 10:41 PM 4/5/2008

crazyguy

good write up

B serious

iTrader: (1)

the pickle fork only works well if you're actually replacing the ball joints that are getting forked up. You were clear in your title...but sometimes, fools dont read. Read, fools.

jadziasman

Absolutively, B-serious. Pickle forks are crude tools meant for demolition. And as you so correctly pointed out my procedure is for uca replacement - not reuse. I figured if someone has the courage and skills to tackle this job, they would know about the damage a pickle fork inflicts and would not use it for other purposes. Thanks for mentioning it anyway. I forget sometimes that this fantastic resource has posts which range from people who shouldn't be trusted to put washer fluid in their cars to those who can and do rebuild any part in their car. I hope that our shared knowledge will help the hopeless repair their rides.

1993-eg1

thack for the right up i found that trick some time ago and it has saved me $100's in the last year

shipstylin

Instead of using the pickle fork or ball joint separator believe it or not if you just use a hammer and give one or two good wacks on the side of the arm on the round part where the bolt goes through it will pop right off. I did not believe so myself until someone told me and I tried it more than once and it works everytime. It is solid steel so it is not going to damage anything.

--Mike

SOHKis

thanks man, i may be putting this to use shortly...