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Wishbone bush & balljoint removal

In the process of refreshing the front suspension these were two tasks I was dreading.

The front wishbone inner bushes are big and pressed in so tightly it's a wonder they can be extracted at all. It took a coule of different approaches until I discovered the one that works.

Clamping the circular steel section in a vice grip is the way to go. Place the wishbone on the floor and rotate the grips one way then back again to break the seal between the bush and the wishbone. They are seriously attached to one another after 27 years of bonding!


Once that bond is broken, lever the vice grips against the wishbone and the bush will 'pop' out. This works for both sides.


The bush housing seems to be a steel insert into the alloy and will need a little filing down to get it nice and smooth to take the new set of bushes.


Moving onto the ball joints... This was a frustratingly difficult task. Far more so than the videos on YouTube make out - at least that was the case with mine, and I have two sets. I only managed two this afternoon before needing a stiff drink! The other pair can wait until I feel motivated again...

My wishbones have been glass bead blasted which removed the old remaining epoxy covering the back of the balljoint. You can see the retaining ring that needs removing - this was ridiculous and I almost gave up and resorted to steel wishbones...


I persevered and eventually got the clip out. Then it's easy to push the balljoint out along with twenty odd year old grease and grime.


On closer inspection the housings seem in good shape so they'll be a good candidate for a rebuild - watch this space.




One of the balljoint cups was shattered - which I found interesting as this was a wishbone balljoint that was stiff, giving the impression that it was still in good shape...clearly it wasn't despite how it felt and probably why there was a thunk in the front!


The next step is to source a ball joint repair kit to fit and maybe send these wishbones off for some powder coating.
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  1. Anonymous13 March 2013 at 13:22

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