Replaced Both Ball joints and torsion strut

[bigrobtemp]

I bought the parts on ebay. It was not a super hard job. Need a good electric impact or air impact. Make sure you support the X good. 36mm 12 point, a big hammer, a good ball joint press (which i was able to rent from Advance Auto). I removed the whole steering knuckle, easiest way to do it in my opinion. Be gentle with the air ride switch, 10mm nut and make sure you spray it down. When taking off caliper, hang up with wire tie on the spring. Also remove the ABS sensor and clean it off and put out of the way. It was a little tough to remove the old joint but stay with it and the impact comes in handy there, once it's out just tap the new one in and replace the torx bolts. Need a # 50 for that. Make sure you have all tools before starting, that will speed the job along. Took me about 3 hours from start to finish and it took the loud clank away when hitting curbs or bumps. Just take your time and be gentle, they are designed very well and do come apart but not without a little fight. I know i missed something but just hit me up if you have a question.

[Kristophe]

Thanks much for sharing; this too is on my to do list.

Were the torx bolts on the ball joints overly difficult to remove? They seem easy to strip if as uncooperative as mine might be after 164K miles.

[bigrobtemp]

No the torx came right out. Just make sure you use the right size, mine was a 50. If they seem tough, either tap on them or use a little heat.