3 hours to remove wishbone! **with pic** & **how to**

[mrbeige 0]

Just thought I'd let you all know its just taken me 3 fookin hours to take off the offside wishbone! Bloody bottom ball joint was tight as a nuns ......

 

And its dark now...:(

 

The rear bush on the wishbone is in a right sorry state. The rubber as completely come away from the metal insert! :shock: :shock:

 

Anyone in the Cambridge area want ot give me a hand tomorrow night, finishing it off??

 

Here's a pic of one of the bushes..... :shock:

[sciroccotune 0]

bad luck mate, mine look the same tbh!! :cry: Would help but live in newcastle (BTTT lol)

[adamukcorrado 0]

yep and mine, but the more i hear the more likely i am to take mine to a garage!

any tips tho in case i do decide to do it myself??

good luck tomorrow!

[mrbeige 0]

yep and mine, but the more i hear the more likely i am to take mine to a garage!

any tips tho in case i do decide to do it myself??

good luck tomorrow!

 

Yeah, take it to a garage!! :lol:

 

Tips - use plenty of WD40! Make sure you've got a 1/4 drive socket set. Remove the brake calipers and carriers to improve access to the bolt on the bottom ball joint

 

That's as far as I've got.

[adamukcorrado 0]

yep, a garage it is then, don't fancy getting half way and not being able to finish the job!

forecast says rain tomorrow, not ideal for rollin around under your car! have fun! :)

[mrbeige 0]

yep, a garage it is then, don't fancy getting half way and not being able to finish the job!

forecast says rain tomorrow, not ideal for rollin around under your car! have fun! :)

 

yeah thanks for reminding me :lol:

[mrbeige 0]

Picture added at top...

[bix 0]

Bloody bottom ball joint was tight as a nuns ......

 

Why didnt you just undo the 3 bolts in the wishbone to get the balljoint off? Also how did the front wishbone bolt come out?

[mrbeige 0]

The ball joint was knackered too, and I didn't want to pull the driveshaft out!

 

The front wishbone bolt was bloody tight too, required some foot action!

[mrbeige 0]

Woohoo...... :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

 

45mins to fit offside wishbone & ball joint, and 1 hour to remove and fit nearside wishbone & ball joint!

 

Next one should take me 30mins at that rate!! :lol:

[GIXXERUK 0]

plus gas is better as a realeasing agent than wd40 mate , i know this is probably too late :-(

[sciroccotune 0]

I know that this has probable been done but do you fancy a quick 'how to' since i have the same car and i'm betting on the same problem?? :afro:

[mrbeige 0]

I know that this has probable been done but do you fancy a quick 'how to' since i have the same car and i'm betting on the same problem?? :afro:

 

Quick how to then....

 

1. Remove wheel

2. Remove caliper and bottom bolt from caliper carrier, to get easier access to the pinch bolt on the bottom ball joint.

3. Apply WD40 or Plus-gas liberally to front bolt, bottom wishbone bolt, pinch bolt, and antiroll bar drop link nut. Leave for a few minutes, and re-apply throughout the process of undoing them as they will be very tight.

4. Undo all three bolts and drop link nut. Its likely that the drop link will shear off as water settles between the rubber washers. If it doesn't snap, I would change them as a matter of course because you will have appled a torque to the shaft of the bolt and weakened it

5. Push the ball joint end of the wishbone down to drop it out of the hub. You may need to prise apart where the ball joint sits into.

6. Push the front of the wishbone down then pull toward the front of the car.

7. Take the new wishbone and fit the rear in position, which will probably require a few light taps for it to locate in the two semicircular tabs.

8. Locate the front of the wishbone, and put the bolts in place front and rear.

9. Fit the new ball joints, with the metal bracket and three bolts, int o the wishbone, re-position the ball joint so it is in position to be pushed into the bottom of the hub.

10. Apply upward pressure to the ball joint, again this may require a few light taps. You need to look throught the hole where the pinch bolt goes, so you can see how much you need to push it up. Probably best to tap the wishbone, rather than the bottom of the new ball joint.

11. Put the pinch bolt in and tighten

12. Tighten the other two bolts, front and rear, in the wishbone.

13. Refit the antiroll bar drop link, making sure its the right way around, as the loop is offset from centre.

14. Finally refit wheel and off you go!!

 

Parts that I changed per side

1x Wishbones - (can find this one)

1x Ball joints - 357 407 365

1x Ball joint fixing plate - 191 407 175

3x Ball joint fixing bolts - 101 277 06

1x Front wishbone bolt - 904 840 03

 

Hows that? Not a mechanic, but it might help...:)

[sciroccotune 0]

Will indeed help, thanks for that :-) Not gonna be doing this till end of October when I get the courage up lol

[mrbeige 0]

The second one was a lot easier, and took me almost a 1/4 of the time to do!

[adamukcorrado 0]

cheers for that, may have inspired me to do it myself after all!

how much did the parts set you back??

[potatonet 0]

yeah I dropped the subframe to do mine, good luck getting the new bushes in, I had a machine shop do it... mine were virtually non existent tho...

[mrbeige 0]

how much did the parts set you back??

 

£130ish for the wishbones, ball joints, plates and bolts from VW with 10% discount

£9.25 each for the drop links from GSF

 

yeah I dropped the subframe to do mine, good luck getting the new bushes in, I had a machine shop do it... mine were virtually non existent tho...

 

I bought the complete wishbones, with the bushes in as they were only £40 each!

[potatonet 0]

hahah my bushes were half that

[Dogzyboy 0]

Apologies for dragging up an old post, but I'm a bit stumped for ideas.

 

Here's my post on another topic:

 

Whipped off one of the wheels this afternoon to see what is involved in replacing the wishbones. What I did notice is that the front bolt appears to be too close to the sump to remove. Am I being a bit dim here in thinking the sump is going to cause problems with removal? :?

 

Any advice would be very welcome as I've just had an oil change & dont fancy having to remove the sump!!

 

Cheers,

Doug

[herisites 0]

I was told that you have to remove the sump on a vr to get to the bolt mate and if you do you have to then replace the sump gasket. But i also heard that lowering the sub frame slightly allows you to get access :? when i do mine i am going to just take the sump off replace the gasket and oil etc at the same time so its getting fresh oil and fresh wichbones/bushes :D

[dinkus 10]

Vince did my wishbone bushes without the need to take the sump off, so it is possible... no idea how tho :?

[Supercharged 2]

dinkus, you jack the engine...

[Heardy 0]

Undo front and rear engine mounts and jack engine up.

Dead easy then.

I've done a few of these and found that the cross bolt through the wisbone seizes in then you do have problems so Beware.

[Dogzyboy 0]

Oh cr@p. There goes my best intentions of DIY then. Either option is a bit beyond me to be honest. I guess I'll just wait until I need an oil change again, and I'll either drop the sump, change to oil & replace the sump gasket all in one go. Or take it to someone competent to go for their preferred option.

 

Thanks for all advice guys.