lower control arm/ball joints

Last time my ten year old Saturn was inspected they said the ball joints
were borderline. I've asked before if any do-it-yourself types have been
able to successfully get the ball joints/control arm replaced and only
one person replied who said he ended up having to cut up the lower
control arm to get it out and that the inner bushing had fused to the
thru-bolt making the job a freakin' nightmare. Having been staring at
this Haynes picture, I can see access to the business end of things is,
well, enclosed, like really boxed in. Also I live in the snow belt and
so the corrosion had probably done it's thing making the job way harder
than it ought to be.

If anyone can suggest anything that might make this somewhat easier I'd
really appreciate any tips, or advice. Saturn wants ~$600 to do this and
that does include the subsequent 4 wheel alignment. Two, left & right
lower control arm units will cost me approximately $140. Being poor, I
need the money and hope to do this myself and save as much as I can.
Also hoping a bad shoulder doesn't fly apart on me when trying to do this.

Would 'liquid wrench' work it's way in deep enough to free up a fused
bushing/sleeve from the thru bolt? Would using an impact driver on the
end of the bolt drive it back out to free up the bushing? Just trying to
sound out my only meager ideas from staring at the picture. The Saturn
guy did say it is a quite a tough job to get them out. Probably using an
impact driver might wreck the mounting box-like part of the under frame.

Thanks, I hope!

 

If you remove the entire strut and front hub assembly as one piece, you
won't need to get the car re-aligned. In order to do so, it's three nuts on
the strut mount under the hood, the big axle nut, the tie rod end castle
nut, and the lower ball joint castle nut on the end of the lower control
arm. You'll need a long 2 x 4 or prybar to pry the control arm down enough
to get the hub assembly off of it, and it sure helps to have a second person
to help out.

The nut will probably come off the sway bar end pretty easily. But it will
probably be difficult to get the bolt out of the lower control arm where it
attaches to the cradle. You can buy a torch for $20 if you need it, and the
blue-tipped wrench does wonders. Otherwise, an air hammer with a chisel bit
pressed against the back of the bolt head will help back it out.

This is definitely a job that most driveway mechanics could do, assuming
they have access to a decent set of tools and have a bit of patience.

Lane [ l a n e @ p a i r . c o m ]

 

I'll have to keep this in mind and see if a friend will help me with
this effort. Thanks for the tip....

Was the connection/bolt from the control arm to the cradle/frame a
problem when you replaced your lower control arm?

Wonder how many end up having to get new thru-bolts when doing this job?

 

Was the connection/bolt from the control arm to the cradle/frame a

I didn't replace the lower control arm, I was replacing a CV shaft.

 

I did this exact job about 8 weeks back. I found to remove/install the
suspension sway bar by myself, it was easier to remove the nut from both
lower control arms, and then remove the 4 front frame bracket bolts and just
drop the whole bar out of the car. I tried it the other way first, and found
that a second person would be required. I was having trouble prying the
control arm and pushing the sway bar at the same time. I could get close,
but just not quite enough. By removing the brackets, it just falls out of
the car. I found it much easier to install it into both lower control arms
first, then it was quite easy to pry the whole bar backwards enough to
easily get the frame bracket bolts back in.

As for the lower control arm to frame bolts - it is likely one of my earlier
posts you refer to as having much difficulty removing them. I also live in a
car corrosive climate. As far as your C clamp trick - likely no go. I tried
all the tricks first. 3 days of WD40, mouse oil , etc, etc, 4 types all
together and the bolt was not budging, and when I did get it out a could see
why. My bolts were set head aft/nut forward. The nuts came off, using the
penetrating oils and a large J bar and extension pipe. Unfortunately the
forward side is where there is the least room to access pressure to push on
the bolt shank. There is no room to get any type of straight pressure onto
the bolt. Every which way you hammer or press, it is at a good angle. I was,
however able to get some pretty heavy duty pressure on the bolt. Spinning
the head did not help, as the bolt does not get stuck/corroded into the
frame box, but rather to the control arm bushing sleeve. So the bolt spun no
problem, along with all the sleeves, it just would not release from the
sleeve, which is trapped in the box. I did try impacting the bolt shank with
no joy, but it is not possible to get a straight line on it, so the effect
is much reduced. I did not try, as someone else suggested, using and impact
wedge under the bolt head, as I did not have such a bit for the impact gun
at my disposal. I did however try to hammer a standard flat chisel under the
head to exert more pressure onto the bolt, but was unable to even get enough
room under the head to get it to even start in.

I also did try to heat the control arm with your standard propane torch.
Besides the rubber bushing catching fire, this type of torch was unable to
provide enough heat to penetrate the control arm, the outer steel sleeve,
the rubber bushing and the inner steel sleeve to the bolt. I heated it until
the control arm was a good deep red right through, but it seemed not to be
enough to get right into the bolt. A shop would use oxy/acetylene, and it
would likely work under these conditions. I ended up using a dremal with a
small high strength cutting wheel, to cut the whole thing into pieces. I
went through several cutting discs, but it was really no big problem. Just a
very slow and steady hand to make sure I did not touch or nick the frame
box. When the inner sleeve final cut was done, it opened the split quite a
lot. The amount of corrosion between the bolt and the inner steel sleeve was
tremendous. The expansion pressure of the corrosion was huge. But once I cut
away the control arm, the outer sleeve, the rubber bushing, and then the
inner sleeve, just widening the cut with a screwdriver was enough to release
the bolt, and it knocked out with relative ease.

If you have a steady hand and some tool like a dremal, or die grinder with
small head and small cutting wheel, with some good quality small cutting
discs, it was really not to big a deal. just more time consuming. It does
need to be fairly small to get inside the box. Once I decided that was how I
was going to do it, it took me about 90 minutes to get it all apart in this
manor. Reassembly was a snap, as there was no corrosion damage to the frame
box, just the sleeves and bolt. I covered the new bolts/sleeves etc, with
corrosion inhibiting anti seize just in case I ever have to take it out
again. Total time for job was a good full day.

Removing the struts from the top, together with the hub assy is a good idea
to avoid alignment, so long as you don't need to replace the hub, hub
bearing, or strut. Remember if you do want to also change the struts, as I
also did do, you will need a coil spring compressor to compress and hold the
springs, while you take the shock strut out of and reinstall the new one
into the coil spring.

Good luck.
Mike

 

I also live in Canada and I did this last year on my 93SW1 and I ended up
doing the same thing as Mike. The problem is that the bolt gets fused to the
sleeve with rust and there is no room to hammer it out so the best thing is
to cut it off. I bought a cutting wheel kit from a parts store for about $20
and it came with five cutting disks. With a little time and patience you
hack away until it comes off. I bought an aftermarket arm which was a third
the price compared to the one from the dealer. I bought a new bolt from the
dealer. It has been working fine and a lot cheaper.

Good Luck
Alex

 

Lots of good tips coming from this thread. Lane says that he had no
problems with his lower control arm replacement so maybe I'll be OK with
my attempt to do this after all. Encouraging!! So, guess I'll go get the
bad boys and give it my best. Lane also says a new bolt is supplied with
the arm which will be a big help. I'm getting TRWs, although they are
now owned by someone else now. I'll keep the sway bar removal suggestion
in mind and I do have the anti-seize ready. I think, hoping actually,
that my bolts are set head forward/nut aft. It'll be great if I get this
done for the cost of the arms alone.

I do have a set of strut spring compressors, but can't afford the new
struts at this time. They seem to be OK, but who knows how long they'll
last? Will post how this goes. Thanks all for the tips.....

 

Actually the Saturn ones are stamped TRW.

 

I gave up on Liquid Wrench a few years ago when I discovered PB Blaster. I
have gotten out stuff I would have NEVER even thought I could with this
stuff. I'm sure that if you could get access that you could use it to
remove the deck bolts on the Titanic.

Also, a small MAP gas torch is handy. Heat, spray PB Blaster, watch the
flame, heat again, spray. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I have an 87 Jeep on which every fastener is so rusty that you need a can of
PB Blaster just to change the radio station. This stuff really works and I
am able to do repairs on the Jeep easily.

-David

 

Is PB Blaster available in the auto parts stores? Will PB Blaster do the
job by itself, without the torch?

 

Found out tonight that the guy who did my auto's state inspection was
wrong about my needing the ball joints. My friend and I both agree that
they are both pretty tight. Will see if I can get my money back. I'm
kicking myself for not having checked this out before, myself, and not
taking the word of the inspecting garage guy. My tie rods are OK too.

 

What's PB Blaster and where do you find it?

Thanks,
Jim