MX-3.com

93 RS. My right lower ball joint is bad. I search and didn't find anything on replacement. I'm just wondering if it's as simple to replace like a cv axle? And should I buy a new one, or is a used one okay?

Definately buy new.. And if one ball joint is going bad.. the others usually arent far behind. Air chisel, Pickle Fork and a big a-- hammer.. nasty time consuming job.. I usually just let a shop handle this one. But they can be done at home. Best of luck.

Tunes67

Got another question. Read a little, and found the ball joint is on the lower control arm. Now if I buy a new lower control arm with the ball joint, would it be easier to replace, compared to replacing a cv axle instead of just the cv joint?

A little bit.. but you would still have to seperate the old ball joint from the knuckle.. and thats the fun part. Granted I havent done this on the MX-3. But I did it on my subaru and I did it on my old nova (bit different setup on the Nova since it was RWD) In both cases each ball joint seem to take forever to get out.. yeah thats an exaggeration.. but it still sucked. Best of luck.

Tunes67

It is more work to remove the whole control arm and there is a chance that you will damage the control arm bushing in the process.

If you work smart it doesn't require as much effort to remove the ball joint as previously described. The trick is once you remove the retaining bolt for the balljoint on the spindle before you kill yourself beating the seperator fork to death to get the balljoint to pop loose do to things first. First spray something like Break-Free (WD-40 will work), or pour viniger mixed with atf or even Coke/Pepsi where the shaft of the balljoint goes into the spindle. Also do this to the nuts holding the balljoint to the control arm. Wait a minute them tap the sides of the casting a couple time them repeat again. Second before beating the hell out of the fork have someone or use a jack to lift the control arm slightly. Doing this it should come out with a few moderate blow to the seperator fork. The trick is when the control arm is hanging down there is a slight angular force being applied to the balljoint causing it to bind lifting the control arm reduces this force and the ball joint slips out easier. I can usually do both side in about 35-45 with hand tools on the floor or less than 30min with power tools on a lift.

I should probably replace the upper with it. Is that about the same amount of work as the lower? Know a good place to buy these?

The ball joint...is it the connection between the stabilizer bar and the control arm?

Update:

Got it on, and what a difference. No grinding sound on road obstacles. And no more pulling either.

It was pretty simple to do. Only problem I had was getting the bolts off. I don't think they have ever came off. But got all 3, while snapping a wrench in the process. Thank god the ball joint I got, came with new bolts.

Took me a couple hours, but hey, I'm learning.

thats why you buy tools w/ lifetime warrentys... they dont break as easy... sumin like snap-on (if you got ALOT of money) or craftsman, or.... umm well you get the point... the more you pay the better your tools...

dj inferno wrote:thats why you buy tools w/ lifetime warrentys... they dont break as easy... sumin like snap-on (if you got ALOT of money) or craftsman, or.... umm well you get the point... the more you pay the better your tools...

Really? The one I broke was Craftman. The Snap-on wrenches I have, last longer than my Craftman. I have 3 broken Craftman wrenches, and 2 solid Snap-on wrenches. Practically all the brands of wrenches have warranties now-a-days. All of them brake, don't matter who there made by.

I will post pics on this but all you need to do is pull the wheel off. then the steering arm (1 bolt at the hub)and then the 3 bolts on the ball joint (2 are on that lower trangle lookin bar and one holds the top of the ball joint onto the hub) it took me all of 10 minutes.. (mind you my car is on a hoist with the wheels off)

It would of took me within 30 minutes, but I stripped all those bolts before finally getting them off. That's what took me so long, and watching tv at the same time.