In the quest to find the noises my car makes that it shouldn't, I wondered if anyone has had lower ball joints that suffer from slip stick?

It would nicely explain why seemingly solid (perhaps too solid?) balljoints go crack and clunk periodically.

 

Modern lower ball jionts are sealed, have a life expectancy of 50k + miles even on a Scooby. If the rubber gaiter has perrished and watrt entered you will have the condititon you describe. This is not good news as if the ball fails (seizes and then shears) you will be a mere passenger in the car, it will suffer front corner suspension failure, and an accident is SURE to happen.
Get them change, real easy job for DIY or the local garage/Halfords.
911

 

The rubber gaitor looks OK, but that's no reason not to change the joint.
The car has done about 90k miles now, so I supose it's about due.

I hate these intermittent noises

 

Fed up with the whole thing, so I've ordered new ones anyway. The old ones would have gone wrong eventually!!

 

And the peace of mind will be great!
911

 

I think I need a new balljoint. Where's the best place for this sort of thing? It's an import.

 

Hi
www.camskill.co.uk
Thats where i got mine from. I think it was £25
Jt

 

At £25 each it is worth changing both of them.
911

 

How do you go about changing the wishbone ball joint? Seems straightforward....

Any walkthroughs available guys?


I got a clunk when pulling away and turning, e.g. at a T junction, as well as over speed humps. Changed the struts, sprinks, top mounts, all A/R bushes ( for Powerfelx ) and all wishbone bushes ( again for powerflex) yet STILL get this clunk ...
Is it the steering rack moving a bit, or track rod end, wheel bearing or this wishbone ball joint, or even CV joints? All on a MY94 WRX, 74k miles.

Any ideas welcome!!

Ta

 

999, you might as well keep on changing bits! Do the track rods(cheap peace of mind)
Doubt it's the rack, check the bolts.
To change the ball joints is easy:

Jack up car etc in a safe way.
remove the split pin through the caslteated nut on the ball joint. Slacken the nut off.
Drown the bottom of the hub with WD40 where the cross bolt passes through. This bolt does 2 things, 1) clamps the ball joint body into the hub, 2) locates the body in the hub. Remove the bolt (good fun).
GENTLY pry open a small amount the hub where the bolt was. this eases the wd40 into the ball housing bore in the hub (even more fun)
Once tired of that, get a very big screwdriver or preferably pry bar between the lower wishbone and the underside of the hub, ans with the castle nut unscrewed by several turns (not off) ease the housing out of the hub (the real fun bit)

Once you have recovered doing both sides, rebuild and wish you had taken it to a garage.

Good luck,
911

 

LOL @ taking it to a garage...

Another of my clonking noises has gone now. Only one more to go

 

Is there any scope for using a universal balljoint remover or don't they work on the Subaru configuration?

 

James, I don't think you could get one in. The taper breaks very easy from the wishbone, it's the hub that is so much fun.
Graham.

 

Thanks Graham

 

Cheers folks, so its a fun job ehh.

Looked easy - unbolt, shock pin from its hole.

May still be easy as the wishbones have been off twice in last 5 months for powerflex bushes to be fitted ... since old bushes had to be pressed out on first occasion and burnt out on second one.

Gimme a clue, joint bolts into wishbone, taper bolt into hub? Or am I wrong there?? I know taper goes downwards into hub, think!

Ta

Neil

 

Neil, there is the 'normal' taper into the wishbone. On my Stiv3 there is a steel taper sleeve between the cast wishbone and the ball joint's taper. This is the bit that comes apart easy, most uncommon to do this as on other cars the tapers solid!

I think the ball housing is a cylindrical machined part which is a tight fit into the hub. The pinch bolt simply tightens the hub locally to lock it all into place, and rests in a machined groove around the ball housing. THAT is the fun part, as the parts rust together as if welded.
When you did the wishbone bushes you only split the taper and left the ball in the hub? That's what I did.
There are several ways car designers do this connection of strut and wishbone, the most evil one I have had to battle is the Porsche 911, oh boy...............
911