what did he charge for that Dave?
. Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

Taking the hub off is an overkill tbh. If you take the caliper and discs out of the way you got plenty access.. just my opinion Current:
- L560 Velar HSE R-Dynamic D180
- Peugeot 508 2011 - 2.2 HDi GT

Past:
- FFRR V 2010 - 3.6 TDV8
- Citroen C4 1.6i Petrol
- Mitsubishi Shogun 3.2 DID
- Peugeot 607 2.2 HDi
- Nissan Primera 1.8 SVE
- Honda Civic 1.6 VTEC

Would this do the cassette ball joint do we think?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391821621546

Click image to enlarge

It would if you have the hub on a bench. In situ, the axle will be on the way so it wont work.. reason most of us do it in situ (well atleast I did) was to avoid taking the axle off and camber settings which on few alignment places can get it right. Current:
- L560 Velar HSE R-Dynamic D180
- Peugeot 508 2011 - 2.2 HDi GT

Past:
- FFRR V 2010 - 3.6 TDV8
- Citroen C4 1.6i Petrol
- Mitsubishi Shogun 3.2 DID
- Peugeot 607 2.2 HDi
- Nissan Primera 1.8 SVE
- Honda Civic 1.6 VTEC

Taking the hub wasnt very difficult and the ball joint came out with a couple of bangs of the hammer, it gave much better access as well to everything and as a priffessional mechanic my guy wasnt going to spend hours heating and bashing things.
I agree you can just remove the caliper and rear shield and start bashing away but you could do more damage and if that blow torch ignites anything your gonna be upset

Yes.. its personal preference really.. to me extra bashes and being careful with the torch meant there was no change in camber or alignment when it went for a 4 wheel alignment. Current:
- L560 Velar HSE R-Dynamic D180
- Peugeot 508 2011 - 2.2 HDi GT

Past:
- FFRR V 2010 - 3.6 TDV8
- Citroen C4 1.6i Petrol
- Mitsubishi Shogun 3.2 DID
- Peugeot 607 2.2 HDi
- Nissan Primera 1.8 SVE
- Honda Civic 1.6 VTEC

I did mine (off-side only) yesterday afternoon - a couple of hours on the drive at home for both a replacement arm (easy) and the ball-joint (totally unnecessary, but I’d bought a new one, so decided to fit it). I bought Delphi parts as they are meant to be OE in various guises and the delivered cost for both the control arm and ball joint was £77 inc. VAT. I have a full set of bushing presses, but looking at the size of the rear arm, I elected to just buy a new one, rather than press out the old bush.

If you don’t have any squeaks or groans from the front end when you apply steering lock, I wouldn’t replace it yet; mine wasn’t even an advisory on the MOT (in January), although the other (lower front) arm had been a fail and replaced at that time (before my ownership).

To diagnose what needed replacement, I lifted both front wheels (supported by axle stands), and whilst holding each wheel in the quarter to three position, moved the steering through it’s entire travel feeling for both any free play and looking at the bushes in their subframe mounting points to see if there was any movement.

By checking and comparing side to side, it becomes very obvious if there’s any undue movement in any particular bush (or ball joint).

Removing the old ball-joint was by far the most difficult task; I’d doused everything in PlusGas (that stuff is awesome) an hour or so before starting and the T50 bolts that hold the ball joint into the hub came off easily, but driving the ball joint itself out of the hub involved turning the steering lock fully to the left to give a suitable angle of attack, supporting the hub with my trolley jack under the front ball joint and then threading my narrow cold chiesel between the brake caliper and disc onto the rear of the ball joint and hitting it with my 4lb lump hammer until brute force, determination and persistence beat a stubborn, rusted-in ball joint.

I have kept it as a trophy for my sheer hard work and can photograph it if it helps!

Putting it all back together was easy from here - if you do go ahead, don’t forget to raise the hub to what will be standard ride height before tightening everything up or the bush will be under additional twist that will only serve to prematurely tear the rubber again.

As for tools, I have a 5-ton high reach jack that makes lifting a FFRR in complete safety much easier, 4 3-ton axle stands (not ratchet types), a proper torque wrench (several, actually), a long breaker bar and a range of quality sockets / spanners / Tork jobbies / cold chisels / punches / big f hammers / ball joint splitters etc. to make things easier; if I only had fairly standard hand-tools, I’m not sure that I’d be confident of a successful outcome.

Hopefully this helps beyond what everyone else has said - I’m assuming that you wouldn’t be doing this on the busy streets of Westminster! 2004 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 V8

Ive kept mine as a trophy too as it is not a 2 min job. I did get better at it when I changed the driver side. Only school boy error I made was that I didnt raise the suspension to the previous height before torquing and now Im 10mm lower on the driver side. Current:
- L560 Velar HSE R-Dynamic D180
- Peugeot 508 2011 - 2.2 HDi GT

Past:
- FFRR V 2010 - 3.6 TDV8
- Citroen C4 1.6i Petrol
- Mitsubishi Shogun 3.2 DID
- Peugeot 607 2.2 HDi
- Nissan Primera 1.8 SVE
- Honda Civic 1.6 VTEC

They do come out with persistence:

Click image to enlarge

yep its a SMASH IT job, no real subtle way of doing it.  There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Any recommends on which ball joint splitter I should get?

Cheers guys.

. Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

Definitely NOT one of the fork types as they destroy the rubber seal and necessitate a new ball joint.

The eBay one linked to previously will do the job; I have a Draper branded one that looks exactly the same and they don’t damage the seal. You do have to tighten them quite hard, but then a swift tap on the control arm usually splits the tapered joint. 2004 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 V8

Anything like this:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=ht...2759055353

Make sure that it’s threaded on the centre pivot for additional adjustment over the fixed pivot... This also allows you to reverse the parts - something I had to do on a previous car to get into the joint without causing damage to the seal. 2004 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 V8

I didn't see another one linked, so thanks a lot for dropping that link.

Only a tenner? Ordered.

Cheers Ian!

. Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

The jaw on that one may not be wide enough, I have one and had to cut it with my angle grinder to get it around the pin.

You need a jaw of at least 22mm preferably a little bit more.
(The sizes quoted on the ad are for height between jaw and top bar)


That said, it wouldn't crack the joint, big fork and sledge needed in the end  .
Experience is the only genuine knowledge, but as time passes, I have forgotten more than I can remember
Volvo V70 P2 2006 2.4 Petrol 170bhp Estate SE
MG Midget Mk1 1962

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