How To Fit New Lca Balljoints

[altezzaclub]

Read this right through so you know you have the tools to do it before you start! Bits of pipe, grease gun, a solid hammer....!

 

This is a straightforward job, well technically straightforward and simpler than changing a distributor, but it does need some mechanical hammer work! A side takes about 1-1.5hrs without hurrying. I did one a day, no rush.

 

First, buy two to these. Mine were for my Corona LCAs, I don't know if the KE70 etc are identical, but this part number fits Corona, Celica, & KE Corollas in theory.

 

Get organised- I have a floodlight, several square of carpet to sit on, and I keep the tool box nearby. I get out the tool I want, use it, then put it aside in a pile. At the end of the job I have all the tools I used in that pile, and as I put them away I clean them and think “did I do UP whatever I UNDID” with each one...

 

Jack the car up, take a wheel off, spend 5minutes inspecting everything you can see. I haven't done anything on The Girl's KE70 for ages except run up thousands of Km on it and fit the Celica diff, so I found a few things to put on the list.

 

First up is to remove the strut. I loosened the front nut of the castor rod right off, which makes the castor rod easier to get off the LCA as the rod has studs in the top, not bolts.

 

So, undo the 22mm on the front of the castor rod, take off the lower nut on the sway bar, undo the two 17s in the bottom of the strut and loosen the 12s at the top of the strut. Then put a lever under the chassis over the castor rod and push down. That will pop the strut up off the steering arm on the LCA. You hold it in one hand and undo the loose 12s at the top, then put it on the tyre so it is out of the way but not hanging on the brake line.

 

Pull the split pin of of the balljoint's castellated nut and take the nut off. My balljoint cracker was too small to fit this, so I held the steering arm upwards and smacked it a few times on the side with a nice solid block hammer. I held the jackhandle lever down with my knee, but I'm sure you'll find some way to do it. Hitting it on the side works better than smacking it downwards, Rob was right!

Edited June 10, 2013 by altezzaclub

[altezzaclub]

Now you can undo the castor rod and the inner LCA bolt and you should have an LCA in your hand. You should check it over for damage... sigh.. the inner rubber of the bush is OK, but its certainly not 100%!

 

There is a C-clip on the balljoint, just as in the kit you bought, and that needs digging out of its groove. Ideally you have flat-faced C-clip removal pliers (yeah right!) but two screwdrivers do the job. You're throwing it all out so don't worry!

 

At this stage you need a press or a special balljoint removal G-clamp. ...or you take the LCAs and balljoints down to a workshop with a press.. or you do what I did-

 

You'll need to ask your technical supervisor for a hollow tube that you can just drop your new balljoint down. Luckily my much-abused axle stand had the right internal diameter. So it was just a case of holding the bit of LCA around the balljoint horizontally on the rim (up higher than shown) and smacking it with that little block hammer. It takes some whacking, but don't be shy, just stand the bolt up straight and hit it ..

 

You should end up with this...

[altezzaclub]

I spread the grease around the hole in the LCA and put the new one in. Now you need a bit of pipe or a large socket that just fits on the outer lip of the new balljoint. You face the LCA upside down on the stand you used before, put the balljoint through the hole (make sure the rubber cover goes through cleanly) and carefully smack it downwards with your smaller pipe. I used a large socket..

 

I put the LCA on my thigh while I held the socket and the hammer, so it was sitting evenly on the stand. . This time I gave it 3 whacks or so and checked it was going in straight, gave it a few more, checked it again... It does slide all the way in to allow you fit the C-clip.

 

Take it easy with this, using the two screwdrivers you need to get one end in place and slide the other end down over a screwdriver blade so it doesn't cut your new rubber boot. It all works OK with a bit of care.

 

Now we're ready to re-assemble. I wiped a bit of grease out of the old balljoint and put it in the castor rod mount, and on all the bolts I took out. I never took the nut off the castor rod any further than that shown, that is plenty to allow it to move around. By not touching the back nut I kept the wheel alignment castor correct. The steel crush tube in there runs in the steel chassis mount, so a bit of grease in there helps. Use rubber grease if you're really fussy.

[altezzaclub]

With the nuts lubed stuff goes back together. First up is the LCA in place, although remember to leave the inner bush bolt loose while the LCA is hanging down. That only gets tightened when the car's weight has it at the correct angle. Once the LCA is in place the new nut goes on the steering arm & balljoint. When that is tight the split-pin goes through and gets snipped off to size.

 

The strut goes back up on its 12mm nuts, just loosely, and the lever pushes the LCA down to get the strut on top of that steering arm. Use a 14mm spanner to tilt the arm flat. It won't quite line up perfectly on my arms, it sits on this angle.

 

Putting the jack under the LCA and giving it 4 or 5 pumps closes it up so the bolts can go straight in. I then lifted the LCA until the stand under the car creaked, so it was more or less at road angle, and tightened the LCA inner bush bolt. With all the bolts back in and tight, it left the worst job.. greasing it!

 

I greased the new balljoint, and being empty it takes a lot out of the grease gun. I tried the steering balljoint with the broken rubber but it wouldn't take any, so I ended up using a screwdriver to smear grease into the split rubber. One day both sides will get replaced. On the other side I put a blanking plug in the grease nipple hole as they can get wiped off by a rock. I keep a couple of good grease nipples in the shed. This side can take its chances...

 

So, car down on its wheels, collect tools and check everything is tightened, and hopefully the clonk clonk going along the farm road to the Woolshed Rallying HQ has vanished!

[corollaart]

Nice work Keith as all ways :thumbsup:

 

rob