Hey guys just thought I'd post to let you guys know my deepest fears, troubles and secrets

Nah just kidding.

My car has been making some clank sounds so I went to CarX and Sears to get estimate and see what the problem was, both pointed to Control arm bushings and BJs but would change the full thing. Sears estimated $740 for both sides and CarX about 770, blah I confirmed what was wrong and took action myself.

So I changed my passenger side control arm last night (5/9) and decided to pull an all nighter in the garage. Started around 9:30 with a buddy but soon after starting had to go buy a 7/8 wrench for the ball joint since it was the closest we could come up with and also rented an Axle Nut socket set because there was a big nut that I was unsure of the size, turned out to be 29mm.

Alright, my friend got a call and he had to go home cuz he had school early morning. ok so he picks up all his stuff and leaves and like 15 minutes later when I'm about to begin working again noticed he packed that 7/8 wrence with his tools which wasted about 30 minutes more to go pick up from his house. I had to make a few trips to get either tools or food.

Stayed in the garage til' 5:30am and decided to quit for the night since I couldn't get the BJ off, and I had to cut the BJ with a hack saw. Went to sleep at 6am and was working on the car by 12:30pm since I had work at 5pm..So it occured to me that it would be smart to use a ball joint separator to remove the ball joint (lol) so there's another trip. Alright around 3 o'clock everything was running perfect and the new control arm/ball joint was ready to be installed until I noticed the control arm wasnt sliding in fully and guess what? a metal piece from the old C.A was still on there and tight, nothing got it out. Banging, prying, praying, PB Blasting it until it came to mind that maybe it was a sign that I had to go make another trip and buy a torch along with a new hammer since I was using a monkey wrench as a hammer (lol) So it's already lke 5-5:30pm and decided to go buy it. Came back, heated the sucker up and used the vicegrip to get it out and actually got it out

So I put the new C.A in along with B.J and tightened everything while car was lifted without wheel then once lowered with wheel on. Alignment was a little off (which I expected) but man there is a huge difference as I dont hear that loud clank anymore when going "D" stopping then "R" the stopping or when I'm driving over bumps. I still hear it but its coming from the driver side now. The ride feels a lot smoother and cant wait til Brian gives me a call to pick up the driver side C.A

10pm-5am= 7 hours straight dealing with rust and removing
12:30pm-6pm= 5.5 hours dealing with more rust and installing
12.5 hours total labor time not including sleeping.(wow that really sucks)

So, I learned pretty much on my own and with FSM as I never seen a C.A/B.J getting changed. It wasnt hard, it's just dealing with all the rust thats time consuming. Next side I'll be able to change in an hour or 2 tops and that's because now I have all the necessary tools and know what I will be doing. I'm glad I'm doing it on my own and paying less that 150 for both C.A's when Sears well wanted 179 for each one and thats without labor.

As for my job I ended up getting there at 8:20pm instead of 5pm but I gave them a call around 2 so they were aware (since the night before actually)

 

Car work owns you...











J/K

 

Nicely done. Thanks for going over the (extreme) details of your install, as I will be doing the same thing VERY shortly and I fully believe that install will me and my friend.


Shift_is that my keys, on the floor, but the motor is still runnin....

 

I got my hub assembly changed out about a month ago, now the same side they did it on i hear clunking and squeaking, i think its the control arm. Does anyone thing it could be the shops fault?

 

ok so i get a p.o.s. clanking from my car. its usually after its sat for a bit. If i back out of a spot or if i drive forward slow, ill get a clunk clunk clunk constant. I changed my cv axles about a year ago, so i surely hope its not them. how else can i diagnose the control arms??

btw, nioce work bud.

 

jack up the car and look ay the front bushings

 

Basically what Sears and CarX did was wobble my wheels in and out when the car was lifted and it moved a lot where the bushings were supposed to be..you can just change the bushings and ball joints but its probably cheaper,easier and more efficient to change whole control arm when you get it from Brian. If your wheel wobbles when lifted that that could be the problem. Good luck guys, I'll be posting pics later today and possible making a simple write up since I see many people might be having same problem I did.

--John

 

I did mine in a few hours? For the stuck bushing, you should have just cut a slit in it w/ a dremel or hacksaw. Much faster. But glad you finally got it done. You sure know how to make a job harder. hehe

 

Oh sorry forgot to mention that, I did try using a hacksaw for that piece but it was stuck good. As for a dremel I dont even know what that is so I'm gonna google it and find out. Here's some pics:


Entire Control Arm


Thats the lil f*cker that got to me and had to heat up


Thats where its supposed to be in, look how worn it was.

 

I know what you are referring to. I've gone though all this before. One thing you could have done is spray lube in there and try to get that bushing to rotate before you pulled the control arm off.

 

A: Ball joint nut, the wonders a hacksaw can do


There's those 2 *******s again

 

I sprayed it with PB blaster which has done wonders for me with other jobs..and even 5,10,20, 45 min after it didnt even move a bit lol

thanks for suggestions though, I appreciate it

 

I got the pic u sent at school lol. I knew it had a 9mm in the size. Oh well glad you got it changed. Id rather get the ES bushing set. I know alot of people burn out the bushings, can we do that too?

~Alex

 

I was thinking of getting ES bushing but too much work and its gonna be rather bumpy, I want a stiff ride but not too stiff, plain GR2s are good enough for me for now.

 

So I changed the driver side control arm yesterday in a fraction of the time and not as many problems as with the passeger side. Only problem was that the ball joint I got this time did not come with the lil' plate for the other side or the nuts and while taking off the original ones they stripped/broke, I improvised and used the plate off the pass side and new nuts.

So the ride is better but the tire on that side seems to be making more noise and its still making a clanking sound..just bought the swaybar link for the driver side since I didnt have a chance to buy it yesterday, hopefully that'll fix the problem. Would any of you guys happen to know what could make the left hand side clunk when going forward-stopping then reversing stopping and clank!

Appreciate the feedback.

 

nice job, been there, done that, knows how it feels. Not to mess with you or anything, but did you hack saw the ball joint off without removing the cotter pin that is locking the castle nut in place (in other words, you didn't try to remove the castle nut, or did you try to remove it with the cotter pin still on)? I think I saw the cotter pin still on in your picture

 

lol half of it is was still in there..thats for the passenger side control arm that I changed a while back when I made this thread. With the driver side it was nice and easy cuz I actually got a 22mm wrench so I didnt have to cut anything. Would it really matter whether the cotter pin in still in there or not if I'm gonna be cutting the balljoint anyway?

I'm still wondering what the clunk that I have is..