Help Needed/

[tommytwo]

Looking for advice on how to go about replacing a  Mondeo MK3 Front Bottom Ball Joint. This is the type held to the lower arm by 3 rivets, which need to be ground off and then the new ball joint is held in place with bolts.  My problem is I cant get enough downward movement on the lower arm or upward movement on the steering knuckle to allow the top of the ball joint to slip out of the hole in the knuckle. I am using spring compressors but they seem to make no difference. I tried lifting the hub using a jack under it but that did not work. I have seen YouTube videos where a pry bar is used. But the bottom of the knuckle is rounded so hard to get enough force on it to make a difference without the pry bar slipping. I have ground off 2 rivet heads but my grinder is a bit big for this job. I am scratching my head and wondering what to try next so any advice is welcome except, "Give the job to someone else" That is not an option for me but the next time, I will give the job to someone else. Thanks.

[cros]

Sounds like a cunt of a job.

[DodgeRover]

Can you get a bigger/ longer bar between the subframe and the lower arm and force it down?

[DodgeRover]

Can be a swine of a job with only one pair of hands though

[gordonbennet]

Big fuck off lever, an lorry cab jacking handle makes the idea lever, these things will not bloody bend about 3 ft long, often have an thicker edge at the handle end which if used in reverse won't allow it to slip out.

 

Cold chisel the head of the last rivet off?

 

Last one like this i did was on a Reno16, that was the same 3 rivet jobbie, what a poxy bloody car to work on.

[panhard65]

Best to have a long bar and lever the bottom arm down. I take it you have cracked the taper on the ball joint first. Be very carefull trying to compress the spring or jacking the hub up as I learnt the hard way some years ago with a Peugeot 206 that if it slips you will hurt yourself.

[TRW]

 Be very carefull trying to compress the spring or jacking the hub up as I learnt the hard way some years ago with a Peugeot 206 that if it slips you will hurt yourself.

This!

[TRW]

Is it not possible to undo the arm at the subframe/chassis leg end then pull towards you,  swing the whole thing around for better access and drill the rivets out?

[bub2006]

Sorry, tiredness means I confused people.

[twosmoke300]

Mk3 Mondeo is a pinch bolt type bottom ball joint rather than taper . Plenty of lube . Bolt all the way out not just slackened , big bar and lever arm down while hitting it down with a hammer .

 

The rivets are a twat on those - replace the whole arm if you can

[Cavcraft]

For this job you'll need a screw driver, a can and a BFO magnet.

[tommytwo]

If I could have foreseen the problem, I would have chosen to replace the arm. looks like it would have been easier. And yes, it is a C*** of a job!, Never expected a simple ball joint change to be such a problem.

 

There are warnings not to force the lower arm down as this can knacker the rear arm fixing bush, which is oil filled apparently. Found an idea on another forum, to use a trolley jack to raise the hub but to use rope to attach one end to the hub and through the bottom of the trolley jack, to the lower arm. Raising the hub pulls the lower arm down. Sounds ingenious to me.

 

Found out that some people recommend undoing the bolts on the sub-frame side one is working on. I currently have my jack under the sub frame, as I am new to a Mondeo and not really sure where to place a jack. I dont like lying under cars for any reason, no matter how well supported. I have a pair of new 3 ton jacks on the way as I have some very old gear that has served me well for years but high time I splashed out for some new stuff. I dont plan to have an accident just yet.

 

So thanks to all who have taken the trouble to respond, I will post again when I have made some more progress.

[Station]

I've been told hit both sides with two big hammers.

 

Have you tried ball joint separators?

[tommytwo]

The joint is loose because I have withdrawn the pinch bolt and the joint is free to move. The problem is that I am unable to raise the hub high enough or the lower am far enough down  to move the steering knuckle to one side in order to grind off the rivet heads or to drill them out. It is just a stupid piece of design so it is cheap to produce. Some cars make it to the bridge long before the ball joints need doing. From that point of view, it makes perfect sense.

[dieselassist]

Have you tried levering the hub assembly up off the balljoint n out (towards the kerb/90 degree angle to the car) with a sufficiently large  n strong lever- I use an old 3 piece towing bar for such 'jimping' -  the angle  might help the two separate, since  the distance between hub n lower arm will be lessened; once you get one corner of the top of the balljoint 'showing' stick a screwdriver ontop of it to help it unseat it - you'll ideally need the track rod end detached n any ARB connections undone...

 

The fork type 'balljoint separator/destroyers are good in these type of situations; clatter that in ontop of the balljoint rubber n with a thick tubular pole; eg a scaffold pole,  sleeved down the shaft of the balljoint forked seperator, n lean down on that to hop the balljoint off the hub....

[tommytwo]

Today I tried lowering the hub onto some blocks of wood, chaining the strut and trying again to get the ball joint out of the steering knuckle. I tried the method suggested by dieselassist but this did not work for me. So I have gone with the garage method and ground through the exposed end of the ball joint. The strut is now free to move and I ground off the rivet heads in the lower arm. I next tried to knock out the rivets but they are stuck fast. Looks like they will need to be drilled out., and all my drills seem to be blunt! This looked to me like an easy job. I was dead wrong. It looks like my retest is out the window, and I am rapidly loosing the will to live.

[twosmoke300]

The rivets are a pita in ass to get out in situ as they are right in all 3 layers of the sandwich .

Drilling out is the best was as you have no decent "anvil" to hit it against when on the car .

Complete arm so much easier !

[tommytwo]

Drilling out the rivets seems to be my only option at the moment. Buying a complete new arm would no doubt have been the best option to fix my problem. The garage quoted  £135 to do this job and I wanted to save the labour charge. Having done lots of car repairs in the past, I  thought to myself "How hard can this be? I am now finding out! I have been reading up on how the old guys solved this problem. Most used an air chisel/air hammer, some  an oxyacetylene torch, things I dont have. Ah well, nothing for it but to plow on and get the job done.Steer clear of MK3 Mondeos. Nice car but every job is a pain.

[tommytwo]

Today I gave the rivets two half hour blasts with my blow torch and this seemed to soften them enough to allow drilling. Took me about two hours to do but the ball joint is fitted to the hub at last and I can put everything back together.tomorrow. It was a real PITA job, I will never do another ball joint change on a Mondeo, the garage can do the next one.

[twosmoke300]

I wonder what the labour time is for that ? Will look it up next time I'm at work - for shits n gigs . Being a ford I bet it's no more than an hour a side inc wheel alignment

[tommytwo]

I was quoted £135 labor charge to change the ball plus part cost, joint only casts £20.16 from GSF. So assume an hours labor cost and there is plenty of profit for the garage, they have done the job before and have all the tools they need. Its not an unknown job for them. Given the aggro involved, I should have swallowed the cost and paid up.