850: ball joints

[BigBert]

My 850 failed it's mot on the nearside ball joint.

I'm going to give this a go tomorrow (thursday) how difficult is this expected to be? And am I likely to need a ball joint splitter?

[t+m]

Which ball joint exactly? There is the ball joint on the track rod end and the ball joint on the end of the wishbone. And one each end of the drop link.

[BigBert]

Originally Posted by t+m

Which ball joint exactly? There is the ball joint on the track rod end and the ball joint on the end of the wishbone. And one each end of the drop link.

Nearside front lower suspension arm ball joint

[cheshired5]

Originally Posted by t+m

Which ball joint exactly? There is the ball joint on the track rod end and the ball joint on the end of the wishbone. And one each end of the drop link.

It would be fair to assume it's the wishbone/hub as the op has said.
If your failure applies to the balljoints on the arb links or track rod ends, they specify on the test sheet.

[ajm]

What model year is the car? While my early 850 (1993 MY, 4 stud wheels) had replaceable wishbone balljoints I'm pretty sure my S70 didn't - it was a case of replacing the whole wishbone. Not really a bad idea as by the time the balljoint has failed the bushes are probably going to be iffy too anyway...

[Luxobarge]

I've done this job a few times on a 2-bolt version, it's not too bad. I can point you to some pics if you want.

One piece of advice - replace it with a GOOD quality part, many/most of the aftermarket wishbones out there are not good enough quality and will fail again in a year or two, these are heavy cars and the wishbones do a lot of work. I used Meyle Heavy Duty (HD) ones from PFV and they're fine. It really is a case of false economy to buy the cheaper ones.

Also, when tightening the main bolts, do so with the arm in its normal loaded position, i.e. jack it up under the hub so it's taking the weight of the car. If you don't then the additional twisting force on the bushes can tear and split them.

[happy diver]

Loosen the castellated nut but leave it on.
Hit the ball joint body once or twice firmly, preferably with a heavy steel hammer
depending on rust and penetrene application

[Luxobarge]

Originally Posted by happy diver

Loosen the castellated nut but leave it on.
Hit the ball joint body once or twice firmly, preferably with a heavy steel hammer
depending on rust and penetrene application

Sorry, but that's not how you remove the main ball joint on the wishbone.

There's a clamp bolt that slides past a groove on the ball joint stub that will stop the ball joint stub coming out even if the clamp bolt nut came loose - it's a safety feature. You therefore need to completely remove this bolt (it can be tight) and then lever the end of the wishbone down from the hub assembly and the ball joint stub should pop out. It's easier if you've slackened the 2 main mounting bolts that go through the bushes first.

At least, the above is true for 2-bolt wishbones, which is all of them except for diesels and early 850s.

[BigBert]

Am I correct in thinking I've been given the wrong part?



Pretty sure I don't have space for 3 bolts in there...



it have a 95 850 saloon. "M" REG

[ajm]

Looks like it - as above you'll need to replace the whole wishbone. There have been several variations of these over the years though, a good picture of the inboard end should help get the right one.