Going to replace both thrust arms
 

I am going to replace both thrust arms and ball joints (# 6 and 15 on the pic below).
RealOEM.com BMW E53 X5 4.6is Frnt axle support,wishbone/tension strut
The new thrust arms came with the bushings already pressed and I also bought 2 new ball joints. I already replaced control arms on other vehicles but not on the X. Any special tip before I do the job? For example will I need a puller or fork for taking the old ball joints out? Will I need a press or special clamp to put the new ball joints in?
Thanks

Bump?

Why replace the arms? Unless they were damaged, all you needed were new bushes and you could have installed the far superior poly bushes.

X5Girl, xxx

Because I do not have a press for the bushings and I do not want to keep the X on stands while waiting for the new bushings to be pressed at some places.

X5girl,
I am having my bushings replaced and was interested in the poly bushings from phoenix motorsports but they appear to be closed temporarily. Any other sources for the bushings?
Thanks,
homepro01

Here you go.

POWERFLEX BMW E53 X5 Front Thrust Arm Bushes. Powerflex on eBay (end time 11-Sep-09 13:36:25 BST)

X5Girl, xxx

I am glad you got an answer in my thread but I still have not got mine :rolleyes:

Alpac,
you wanna come to Maryland and install my thrust rod bushings for me? You should be a pro after you install yours:-)

Just chasing around I found this tool reference.
Not sure if it will help but you can give it a look.
bmw tools

Heres another lead.

http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache...&client=safari

I believe this site has a list of tools as well

http://www.bavauto.com/se1.asp?dept_id=162

Alpac, the ball joints are held in with 2 torx head bolts that will need inverted torx sockets to get on them. You will find turning the wheels one way or the other will give you more room per bolt. Just make sure you have a good grab on the bolt with the socket to avoid stripping it.

The only other tip is to remind you to have the wheels on the ground/vehicle sitting at ride height to tighten the bolts through the bushings. This is necessary to have the rubber at a relaxed state while driving. If you tighten them while on jack stands the rubber will twist when you put her back on her feet, leading to overly premature failure.

Good luck!

weasel, what is the best way to remove the ball joint? go in from the top and air hammer it out? or try to pry out the ears of the ball joint where the torx bolts mount to?

That is good info Weasel thanks. Yes I knew about having the car on the ground before tightening the bolts.

Thanks. Before buying any additional tools I am trying to make sure if what I already have would be good enough though. Although never did that on the X5 yet I did work on several other vehicle's control arms/ball joints before. Some were a pain in the neck without the right tool while some were pretty easy. It sounds to me now that the X5 should not give me too much trouble.

I will be doing the same thing very soon! Keep the tips coming! I was also concerned about the best way to remove the ball joints. Thank you all in advance!

Did the same thing to mine last week. New thrust arms, struts and ball joints.

Thrust arms and struts no problem. Got to the ball joints and couldn't get them to budge. Even tried to air chisel them out without any luck. So not sure if they are pressed in or not. Was taking it to dealer anyway for the alignment so will have them do the ball joint replacement, hopefully they will have better luck getting them out.

Never use a pick fork to remove the ball joint. Use the proper tool (above) so you don't knock your alignment off.

Icer006,
Why never use a fork to remove the ball joint? I have always used a fork with great success (not in X5 though)? What special tool are U referring to?

alpac,
do a search on this forum, I came across a thread a couple of weeks ago, there someone had listed the tools you can get from harbor freight for the job. good luck and keep us posted.

alpac,
check out these link, even though it in not for an X5, it should give you a pretty good idea and it also discusses about a seperator tool,

Thrust Arm Replacement 1997-2003 5-SERIES V-8 CARS - Bimmerforums - The Ultimate BMW Forum

DIY - Powerflex thrust arm bushings - bimmerfest - BMW Forums

- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

I was referring to the C-clamp press tool/Ball joint puller

http://www.bavauto.com//assets/produ...erodpuller.jpg

Pitch fork can ruin the rubber boot. If you're working on a tie rod and you use the pitch fork with some force, alignment will be affected.

Just got a call from the dealer and asked him if the thrust arm ball joint is pressed in. The SA told me sort of. It is pressed in a little but is also held in by the two bolts. So there is your answer.

The ball joint for the thrust arm is right below the axles so there is not an easy way to press it out unless you completely remove the spindle.

Now the problem is that one of the ball joint bolts broke and they have spent a day and a half trying to get it out. Might end up having to get a complete spindle.

I haven't seen an answer to OP's question. All those tools mentioned except the BMW special tool in prior replies will fail doing this job. The ball joint is not machine pressed in. It's pressed in while you tighten up those 2 bolts that hold it. So, it's still a pressure fit. Don't think about removing them by hands after removing those 2 bolts. Weasel pointed out one tip - make sure your socket has good grip on the bolt. They're very easy to be damaged. It sucks when that happens.

The BMW special tool is actually similar to slide hammer. I don't think you want to spend that money on this tool (a couple hundreds). Now, here is the tip you need. Cost of this solution could be $0 if you can rent them from local autozone. If you want to own the tools, get them from place like harborfreight for cheap. 2 things you need - slide hammer(like http://www.tooldesk.com/images/close...TD-3045_lg.jpg 3lbs one is good enough) and tied rod/pitman arm puller(like http://4x4icon.com/offroad/063007_st...2645_small.jpg).

Put the pitman arm puller as the attachment on your slide hammer. Leave thrust arm on the ball joint but remove 2 bolts holding ball joint to the steering knuckle. The just use the pitman arm puller on your slide hammer to hold between thrust arm and ball joint. Give it about 2 strikes and ball joint should come off. If the ball joint is heavily rusted, spray something like WD40 or PB Blaster and give it a few strikes. Leave it there to let the fluid penetrate thru. Give it a try after a couple minutes and it should do the trick.

Here is another tip. Make sure you get the alignment done after replacing the arm.

Those mechanics in dealership should be capable of removing the damage bolts. I'm surprised that they couldn't figure out. Maybe the guy who's working on your car is new.

Depending how bad it is, most of time, impact driver and bolt extractor can take care of it. Worst case is to drill the old damaged bolt out. Try not to damage the thread. If thread is damaged, you will have to tap new thread or replace the steering knuckle.

flyingmachine, thanks for the tip. I think I need to make a trip to harborfreight this weekend :)

Did both sides tension struts and ball joints this Sunday. The bushings were really worn out and cracked. It went pretty well. It took me 1h30mns to do both sides including jacking up the car and I really took my time. I first removed the front big bolt (it is a 21 metric). I used a flat 21 metric wrench on the inside to hold the nut and a 21 socket with a long lever arm wrench on the other side. I then removed the ball joint side of the arm using a torx inverted socket. The 2 torx bolts that hold the ball joints are not very deep so you really need to be sure that your inverted socket has good grip on the bolts in order not to strip them as Weasel and Flyingmachine mentioned quite rightly. You need to turn the wheel in between the first and second bolt to have a good access to them. I rented a slide hammer at Autozone but never had to use it. The ball joints came pretty easily with just some slight hammering on the tension arm that I kept attached to the ball joint. Since I was replacing both the arm and ball joint I did not need to remove the old ball joints from the old arms but I did remove one to see how difficult it was. With a Pitman arm puller it came out very easily.
Now the results. The X drives better now. It has a better and more sturdy feeling.:thumbup: However I still have a clunk/rubbing noise though that is obviously not coming from the tension arm bushings or ball joints unlike I initially thought :(. It makes more of a clunking sound when driving even on flat surfaces and it makes a kind of rubbing sound when turning wheels when the car is not moving. I believe both sounds to be related to the same problem but I may be wrong. All other components of the suspension (controls arms, tie rods, swing arms, etc..) seem in really good shape from what i can see. I got some of the suspension components (tie rods and swing arms) replaced under the extended warranty 4 years ago and less than 45k miles ago. I am now wondering if this is not coming from the sway bar bushing. I will spend more time next weekend to try to identify where this sound is coming from.

Make sure you correctly pre-loaded those thrust arm bushes or they will fail inside 10,000m!

With a clunk and a stationary creak I would check those top strut mounts. Have you done the sway bar drop links yet?

X5Girl, xxx

man, I tried to take out the balljoints using a cheapo slide hammer and I stripped the threads attached to the pitman arm puller. The joints were stuck on there pretty good.

Top strut mounts is also a good suggestion. I had similar issues with my E39 540 and E46 M3. Easy check and fix.

Yes I had the car on its wheels before tightening them. What do you call the sway bar drop links? Are these the swing bars or swing supports? They look really good and have no play. I think they must have been changed when several components of suspension were changed during the extended warranty. They look too good for 109k miles. Actually most of the suspension components look good for that mileage. The tension arm bushings were the only obvious components that were warn out. Even the two ball joints that I changed did not look bad at all and had no obvious play.

handy thread

getting the ball joints out
 

I had no room for a slide hammer. I first grinded down an old screw driver to razor sharp and tried to chisel, it only bent it open-but enough to get some penetrating oil in. Then I used a breaker bar with a 8 foot galvanized pipe-wedged it between the re-attached control arm and lifted-still did'nt come easy put popped out. Did drivers side first (someone should say-you need to drop the front bumper and loosen the air vent to get the the bolt out and I needed the room to get my torque wrench in). I was hoping the pass. side would be eaier-but it was harder, I felt too much stress when lifting the par bar so I again chisled a little to get some pen. oil under and inbetween. WORSE part- I still have my shimmy when braking. I first thought warped front rotors, changed them, now I will try changing the rear rotors.
ORDER new screws for the ball joint, they are easy to mess up. My ball joints came with new screws, but they were not the same.....

read someone say it took them an hour and half?? It took me about 8 hours with a lunch brake and dog walk included. I took off the wheels rotors and dust sheild, you could probably do it with the wheel on, but at first try I got a "slip" on the ball joint bolt and wanted a good grip and look.





The BMW special tool is actually similar to slide hammer. I don't think you want to spend that money on this tool (a couple hundreds). Now, here is the tip you need. Cost of this solution could be $0 if you can rent them from local autozone. If you want to own the tools, get them from place like harborfreight for cheap. 2 things you need - slide hammer(like http://www.tooldesk.com/images/close...TD-3045_lg.jpg 3lbs one is good enough) and tied rod/pitman arm puller(like http://4x4icon.com/offroad/063007_st...2645_small.jpg).

Put the pitman arm puller as the attachment on your slide hammer. Leave thrust arm on the ball joint but remove 2 bolts holding ball joint to the steering knuckle. The just use the pitman arm puller on your slide hammer to hold between thrust arm and ball joint. Give it about 2 strikes and ball joint should come off. If the ball joint is heavily rusted, spray something like WD40 or PB Blaster and give it a few strikes. Leave it there to let the fluid penetrate thru. Give it a try after a couple minutes and it should do the trick.

Here is another tip. Make sure you get the alignment done after replacing the arm.[/QUOTE]

Is the shimmy felt every time you hit the brakes and speed varies the frequency of the shimmy? Or does it not happen constantly, but only most of the times you hit the brakes... If you very lightly apply the brakes and slow down more slowly does it do it?

my shimmy is felt in the brake pedal. I have 100k, replaced brake pads at 60K without turning the rotors down-(DUMB)-because the pads and rotors did not wear well they are groved and one rotor is the back looks like it has rust spots where the pad never makes contact, or that calaper is not working correctly?? I am going to replace the rear rotors and new pads tomorrow, could a warped rotor in the rear give a shimmy on the pedel?? To ansewer your question it is pretty constant with speed, obviousley less pronounced at slower speed, but still there
THANKS!

While only front brakes can really cause a steering wheel shake, all 4 can cause pedal feel. I take it the front brakes are all good? If so and the rears are wearing poorly/uneven it wouldn't be a bad thing to change them out. Just pay attention to the amount of force needed to compress the calipers on each side, because if one is noticeably harder to compress it is sticking.

Thanks so much for this trick. After reading this post I was worried I'd be stuck with my X5 jacked up and my suspension in shambles. I used this assembly of tools and it made SIMPLE work of removing the ball joints. However, mine weren't very hard to remove and I suspect could have come out with some prying and a whack or two on the side with a hammer. I barely tapped the arm with this tool and the ball joint came out. I had very little rust, though.
If the joint had been heavily seized/pressed in place, I'm confident this would have removed it.
One of my concerns was being able to get the truck high enough off of the ground with a jack to use this tool, which is 24" long. A regular floor jack was fine, because the joint is angled almost 45 degrees forward.