I had my clutch done last week and it looks like they have snapped one of the 3 bolts in the ball joint. It appears that the bolts are not separate and are part of the ball joint? Is it a big job to replace? I'm an engineer so I'm ok with tools. Do you need a ball joint splitter?
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Ball joint bolt snapped
- Thread starter bflare
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Not a massive job if you ok with tools etc. Only thing is you might need wheel alignment doing afterwards if you fit a new ball joint.
When I last did a clutch, I released the ball joint at the pinch bolt at the top with a pry bar rather than move the bottom 3 bolts so that I didn't **** up the camber settings. Might be worth going to the garage that did it for a moan as looks like they have taken the 'easy' option and ended up busting a bolt for you.
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When I last did a clutch, I released the ball joint at the pinch bolt at the top with a pry bar rather than move the bottom 3 bolts so that I didn't **** up the camber settings. Might be worth going to the garage that did it for a moan as looks like they have taken the 'easy' option and ended up busting a bolt for you.
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Thanks for your reply. I have ordered a new ball joint so going to have a go fitting it tomorrow. When you say you realesed the ball joint with a pry bar where did you jam the bar between? Sorry if i have the term incorrect but did you jam it between the CV joint? I have attached an image of the ball joint with 2 arrows if you could explain at which point location you used the pry bar? The red arrow or blue?
How do you **** up the camber settings? What I was planning on doing is jacking the car up, releasing the bolt on top of the ball joint, letting the suspension arm drop then taking the ball joint off from the 3 bolts then fitting the new ball joint at the suspension arm & lift the arm back up & the ball joint back into place. Is this going to **** something up?
You can't **** up the camber, don't worry. The camber isn't adjustable on these cars and you'll find there's extremely little (virtually zero) play in the balljoint bolts.
The only thing that can be done camber-wise with these cars is to equalise the total camber between the two sides, but this requires some of the subframe bolts to be slackened. You can't do it via the balljoint bolts.
Ideally you want to take the driveshaft out of the hub. It makes getting the nut off the balljoint significantly easier. Otherwise you've got to hope you can get it undone with just a spanner from the side and lever the balljoint free. When I did mine a year or so ago I took the driveshaft out and used a proper ball joint separator. Was quite an easy job with the right tools.
The proper VW group documented workshop procedure for jobs that require the wishbones to be freed is to release the balljoint bolts from the wishbone. Definitely poor form of your garage to have not coughed to their mistake with the bolt though.
Thanks for your reply. How easy it is to remove the drive shaft? Is it just a 36mm socket onto the centre nut? I was looking at separators but the slot in the middle doesnt look big enough on the ones I've seen advertised.
Hi, i removed the top nut and dropped the suspension arm down to get the gearbox out.
The bottom 3 bolts on mine have an elliptical slot they fit into rather than a round one which would slightly affect the camber settings if not put back exactly where they were before.
As you are changing the joint, just jam the pry bar in where the rubber is after removing the top nut and it should slide up, it will be a bit tight but once it moves it will come out ok.
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The bottom 3 bolts on mine have an elliptical slot they fit into rather than a round one which would slightly affect the camber settings if not put back exactly where they were before.
As you are changing the joint, just jam the pry bar in where the rubber is after removing the top nut and it should slide up, it will be a bit tight but once it moves it will come out ok.
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Just noticed comment about the drive shaft. You will need a long bar to get the nut off as it should have a lot of torque on it. It will be easier with it loosened. Some recommend using a new nut on the driveshaft after it has been taken off but I have found putting it back on has been fine before.
Tbh I haven't done a ball joint on a MK2 recently. Thought they had elliptical slots like on my corrado. If not you are on a winner and it's a straight swap.
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Tbh I haven't done a ball joint on a MK2 recently. Thought they had elliptical slots like on my corrado. If not you are on a winner and it's a straight swap.
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I am going to give it a go without taking the drive shaft out. Hopefully I can get a pry bar in where the rubber is as I am replacing the ball joint I can afford to damage it a little. I am pretty sure the holes are not elliptical so I should be able to do a straight swap.
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