Can't get ball joint into knuckle

I've had the same problem. I rigged a setup where I used a jack connected to the strut to jack the strut up into the tower. You have to rig something up to do this carefully but I did it and it worked fine. The reason I had this problem is because the new upper strut mounts/are much thicker than the old. The care rides much much better with these thicker mounts and new struts...

Bob

Originally posted by btrautman:
I've had the same problem. I rigged a setup where I used a jack connected to the strut to jack the strut up into the tower. You have to rig something up to do this carefully but I did it and it worked fine.

I did this to get the strut out, and ended up crushing my hand between the strut and the breaker bar I used as an extension for the jack. I really thought I was going to lose fingers! OUCH!

Originally posted by SVTCANUK:
If everything is lined up correctly you can do this without all the prying of the LCA.

let me guess... 2-bolt LCA?

huge pry bar helps to get the stud out because it actually compresses the spring, but on the way in it's very hard to get a good leverage. like I said, lowering SF gets the job done w/o drama.

Well, the subframe is lowered a little and I've got plenty of room to get the spindle into the knuckle, BUT... now I can't get the strut assembly to move inboard enough to get the spindle into the darn hole. The strut is held in loosely by the bolt on top of the strut tower. The halfshaft is the only thing that appears to be possibly impeding the movement inward. It seems to be in all the way. Is there anything other than the splines that locate the halfshaft, like a keyway of sorts? Could it have popped out a little and stuck? Once more... ugh. Back to the mess...
and thanks for the help guys. Couldn't have gotten this far without you.

btrautman part number for these thicker mounts

all I can tell you is that when i did mine i had a friend stand on the lower control arm while i moved the knuckle into place, then once it was all lined up he let og and I bashed it in with a hammer.

Be careful with your hands, my "helper" slipped and my thumb got smashed between the knuckle and control arm. That sucked.

careful w/ halfshaft! you actually may have it far enough for the tripod to fall out of the housing.

it's not a big deal, it will go in w/o too much fuss, but be careful and don't force it. you can accidentally pinch the CV joint boot. if you do you will have to do the LCA drill again. don't ask how I know.

I WIN! A million thanks to you all. I think I'm going to try the other side now. I hope I'm not asking for trouble...

a few tips:

I bought a pair of sleder spring compressors at advance auto, they weren't expensive ($20-30 IIRC). They fit into the wheel well. (I've even made them "shorter" by using 5" long PCV pipe pieces between the bottom clamp and the bottom end of the threaded rod).

having a (possibly fat) buddy step on the LCA while you're positioning might do the trick as well.

if the CV joint has popped out (you can feel it through the boot), kneel down, align the halfshaft up level and against your right shoulder and do a quick pushing move - it'll slide right in.

and just to cheer you up - you're the lucky one, I've replaced the stock zetec springs for SVT ones and I can tell you it's way easier to work with the stockies...

Tiv

Originally posted by SVTCANUK:
If everything is lined up correctly you can do this without all the prying of the LCA. I have done this several times and have never had to force things into place. You may have to twist and turn things to get it to pop in but this can be done with minimal force.

I believe the newer control arms make it much easier to replace struts/springs. I've done my front two different ways and by far, the easiest way is to have a VERY long pry bar and pry hard and get it in. We did one corner in 45 minutes this way.

Originally posted by PhatDoggy:
Well, the subframe is lowered a little and I've got plenty of room to get the spindle into the knuckle, BUT... now I can't get the strut assembly to move inboard enough to get the spindle into the darn hole. The strut is held in loosely by the bolt on top of the strut tower. The halfshaft is the only thing that appears to be possibly impeding the movement inward. It seems to be in all the way. Is there anything other than the splines that locate the halfshaft, like a keyway of sorts? Could it have popped out a little and stuck? Once more... ugh. Back to the mess...
and thanks for the help guys. Couldn't have gotten this far without you.

Well, this is where I am, right now. Passenger side went together in a snap. Driver's side is a )&)&%@#%#$@#$^!

The front is a two man Job IMO!

We ended up cutting the lower ball joints off of the LCA's and replacing them with bolt-in units. Makes the install a piece of cake compared to prying the not-enough-clearance LCA's

Originally posted by PhatDoggy:
I WIN! A million thanks to you all. I think I'm going to try the other side now. I hope I'm not asking for trouble...

So, what was the final solution? I'm still stuck.

http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=susp&Number=731872&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&vc=1
I posted this a while ago, but it could be a reason you are having trouble. I also had trouble with the drivers side. If it is the CV joint out of the tripod housing it will fight you. Be carefull you can pinch a hole in the boot easily if you are too rough.

I installed my camber/caster plates this weekend and ran into this problem. The driver side was a breeze to get back together, but not so with the passenger side.

Yes, you have to pry down on the LCA pretty hard, but that's not really the problem. In my situation, it was more the angle of attack. You need to have the lower ball joint pointing out away from the car. With the control arm lowered, this allows for the highest point of the ball joint (the edge of the top) to be lowered as much as possible. You can then pull the strut and khuckle assembly out just enough for everything to fall into place.

Here's what I found when I had problems with my passenger side. I noticed my driver side ball joint was firm and would hold into place where ever you moved it. My passenger side was not like this. It move around easly, but when you removed pressure from it, it would return to it's center. So I was not able to get the edge of the ball joint as low as possible.

What did I do? I got my 9 year old daughter, who was out there with me watching everything I did and asking questions, to move the ball joint into place for me. Once it was in place, I slowly released on the LCA just enough to catch the knuckle. I then told her to remove her hand and I took it from there.

Problem I had then was getting the stem of the ball joint to maintain the proper angle while traveling through the knuckle! I was pretty tired from fighting with it, so I took a break. I can back out and worked with it some more. I still couldn't get it, so I just started kicking the hell out of it! Still nothing. I then walked away from it for about an hour or so, went back outside and it fell right into place after a few taps on the bottom of the ball joint.

As someone just stated it really helps to have an extra set of hands for the hard parts. But since I usually work alone, having an extra set of spring compressors, which I cut shorter to fit inside the wheel well helps. Just compressing two, of the easier to access, middle coils helps alot.

Originally posted by eepals:
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=susp&Number=731872&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&vc=1
I posted this a while ago, but it could be a reason you are having trouble. I also had trouble with the drivers side. If it is the CV joint out of the tripod housing it will fight you. Be carefull you can pinch a hole in the boot easily if you are too rough.

Thanks. I was thinking (now that I've been away from it for a couple of hours) that I'd need to peel back the CV boot. How hard is that? I guess I'll find out tomorrow. I can't tell anything by feel.

I have plenty of vertical clearance. The left subframe is lowered about an inch. But there's no way for the vertical axes to line up unless the knuckle can move further inward. Gotta be something with the CV joint.

If you have the earless pliers, easy. About $20 for the Lisle brand. Once you remove the large clamp only, besides the mess from all the grease, you'll be able to see that the rollers from the tripod are out of the housing. Putting them in is easy. Just make sure to orientate the roller or rollers the correct way if one or more have fallen into the boot.

Holy sh**. I just went out to the garage, ready to tear into the CV boot. The ball joint stud was resting in the pinch hole, but at a wacky angle, just like it had been yesterday. I figured I'd give it one more futile push before tearing into major repairs. I did the same thing I'd done for 4 hours yesterday, only this time, I heard a satisfying <thunk>. I could hardly believe it. The darn thing went together. I laughed. I cried.

Working on this car is an emotional roller coaster.

I've never had an issue with them. As long as you slather it with anit-seize and have it lined up it's a piece of piss! I use a crow bar to lever the LAC down makes life a LOT easier.

When I did mine 'bout a month ago. I just replaced the lower ball joint. By the time I had everything apart the boot was ripped anyway, and w/80K I figured why not do it now rather than have to do the whole ordeal over. They're like $25 from BAT or $30 from Autozone. The beauty is, after getting the old one off, you can get the shaft in the knuckle first and tighten pinch bolt. Then take large scratch awl or phillips screwdiver to line up center bolthole and get the first 2 bolts in. Much easier and prolly a good investment if you have any sorta milage on car

I have disconnected them several times and found it easiest to remove the two subframe bolts and push the subframe down a bit. Saves lots of time and frustration. Then just connect the ball joint use a jack to raise the subframe and reinstall the bolts. Get an alignment when your down as complete ball joint (not just removal of the pinch bolt) R&R always affects alignment.

Originally posted by csvt_33:
When I did mine 'bout a month ago. I just replaced the lower ball joint. By the time I had everything apart the boot was ripped anyway, and w/80K I figured why not do it now rather than have to do the whole ordeal over. They're like $25 from BAT or $30 from Autozone. The beauty is, after getting the old one off, you can get the shaft in the knuckle first and tighten pinch bolt. Then take large scratch awl or phillips screwdiver to line up center bolthole and get the first 2 bolts in. Much easier and prolly a good investment if you have any sorta milage on car

Well, at 80k, your LCA bushings are probably shot, too. Might as well replace the whole control arm.