Pics E70 rear Ball-Joint change
 

Thought I'd post a few pics from last weekend working on the rear suspension. I am changing the Ball-Joints and Integral Links on both sides as well as the end-links for the stabilizer.

I started on the D/S side, first tried to leave the hub-carrier on the car, using a threaded bar, but could not make the ball-joint move. Tried heat and a little help from my pneumatic hammer but no joy.

So went whole hog and took the brake off (incl. parking brake) and took the hub-carrier off the car. I did not touch the lower control arm bolts as I prefer to keep a semblance of alignment untul I can get it done at a good alignment shop.

With a 20T shop press the ball-joint was easy to remove and replace. The hub carrier is back on the car. But now waiting for the Integral Links to show up. So the left side is 90% done and on the P/S (right) side everything is ready to remove the hub-carrier.

Interestingly I found that using my recently acquired 3/4 breaker bar (24") the half-shaft nuts came off relatively easily despite not having been off previously.

The other thing I notice is that the bearing does not have to be removed from the hub-carrier. To make it less awkward to position in the shop press I took it off anyway. The bolts are mounted from behind as they are for the front wheel bearings.


Waiting for parts and for the weather to get a bit drier now.....

On the Right side things were a little easier, possibly having the experience of the first one helped a lot. Again opted to remove the hub carrier. This time the airbag popped out from the top perch and I decided to disconnect the airline and get it out of the way. This helped a lot. Unfortunately the the upper forward arm on this side was in bad shape and I am still waiting for a set to arrive.

Nevertheless, changing out the ball-joints completely changed the feel of the car in the rear. It is quiet again! I also changed the end links on the stabilizer which probably helps as well.

My integral links have arrived so those will go in tomorrow. I thought I had included them with the order for the ball-joints but not so and this means I get to wrench another round.

The rear suspension is easy to work on given the airbags. I would think that doing this job with steel springs would require spring compressors. Otherwise I cant see how one would get the ball-joint to line up with the bolt hole in the lower arm....
In all I think this car has poorly designed suspension components in that maintenance is more complicated than necessary. The items last 70k miles or less and in the front upper wishbones are tricky to get to. The knuckles in the front lower arms I could see them war out in 50k as they take a lot of abuse. There are some cheap rubber disks in the front struts that cost nothing but are hard to get to, the top perches in the front seemed like new but having it apart I changed them anyway. I feel that the ball-joints require a shop press, doing this on the car seems almost impossible but maybe a good kit would have helped.

Two more pictures. One of the RR with the air-bag and hub-carrier off. The other one is my trusty tool for pulling the half shaft back through the bearing hub. Typically they will advance with a bit of persuasion from a BFH and a wood block to where the shaft end is nearly flush with the hub surface where the nut sits. I ground down the front of a nut so that it goes a little ways inside the hub using it inside out. Once it catches a few turns on to the shaft I screw in the old CV joint from the outside and hammer away on it until I can get a nut on the right way around, then a 24" bar for your socket will pull it through. Of course wire brushing the splines and lubing them generously is a must!