replacing ball joint..
 

now i wanted to know if the ball joint is pressed into the hub cause im looking to replace the bushing on the control arm and i wanted to change the ball joint while im down there cause im at 133k and its never been changed that i know of... reason im asking is becasue i see 2 bolts on the ball joint bolted onto the hub and i wanna kno if it just slides out or pressed out and then pressed back in?

you need a special bmw tool to remove it... that tool is essentially a slide hammer and it will damage the old ball joint (i think its part of the control arm so you may need another control arm).

you're talking about the front ball joint? if you're going to replace it you can just use a pitman arm from anywhere to remove the thrust arm, then remove the 2 reverse torx screws. tap the ball joints out from above. you'll probably have to loosen the brake disc shield to get to one of the bolts.

i think he's talking about this one... i did try the pitman fork.. no bueno for me...

http://www.xoutpost.com/images/articl...t/24.sized.jpg
http://www.xoutpost.com/images/articl...t/23.sized.jpg
http://www.xoutpost.com/images/articl...t/30.sized.jpg

I used a pneumatic hammer with a pickle fork attachment and it worked like a charm.

u got me lost on what the hammer is... u got ap ic of it?

Sorry I don't.

I found a pic.