When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
04 S55 Front Lower Rear Control Arms - Cant brake free
Seems like a simple solution, keep hammering it until it brakes loose, but i fought with this for 2 hours today.
Broke free the (2) 5mm allen head bolts holding the shock to the control arm.
Loosened the pulsation dampener bracket and got it out of the way of the rear bolt. Removed the bolt.
Removed the upper control arm nut to have more room for the entire hub assembly to swivel up/down/side to side.
Removed the nut that bolts the control arm to the ball joint. This is where i'm stuck. I used a jack to relive the pressure on the arm under the control arm and jacked it up. I took a ball joint tool and hammered it in. for the life of me i can not get it to separate. Am i doing something wrong or is there a specific procedure to remove this damn control arm from the ball joint at the Hub? Pretty aggravated now that I've chewed up the ball joint rubber and some of the grease is now coming out.
What about using a ball joint separator? I was at Harbor freight recently and saw a nice one I was thinking about getting if I ever do my control arms.
Thats what i was using to try and separate it but its chewing up the rubber around the ball joint pretty good. I used a torch to heat it up but still cant seem to brake it free.
I'll just keep at it. I wasn't sure if there was some special procedure for this particularly other then just to keep at it.
Soak it overnight with Kroil or PB Blaster and use the tool Tim is talking about. Put a good mount of tension on it, let it sit and it will eventually succumb to it with a nice loud pop. I've had a few tough ones but that tool has always worked for me. I can't tell how old your balljoints are but it would be a good "while you're in there" thing to do unless you've already changed them and that's why you're concerned about damaging the boots.
Im assuming you got this done, or did you reassemble?
Just browsing through and figured I would help. This is the tool I use for that joint. It goes on from above and does not damage the boot. You place it on then spin it until the ears are under the arm, and the nipple of the arm. You'll know what I mean when you do it. It will pop off with some tightening, and a small hit if you dont like tightening till the surprise release. The scissor type separators are good for any of the other joints, If reusing the joint, just make sure to protect the threads with the nut. thats not needed with the joint you were struggling with
.
if you need dimensions of the one I have, lmk and ill take a pic with a ruler next to it.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
