[jwebb335xi]

Hey guys,

I'm going to tackle tension strut and ball joints on my 335xi today. I've got liquid wrench in the garage and the new TS, Ball Joints and all new hardware are coming this afternoon.

Any words of advice or caution?

When I tighten the strut at the rear near the "hydro" bearing, I plan to do that with the wheels on ramps so the suspension is "loaded" but other than that, I don't see any big problems in from of me.

Any advice you all may have would be appreciated.

[Rocklicker]

I just finished up the driver's side of this job today on my 328xi, which I assume is essentially the same. The Bentley is utterly worthless, it just describes the RWD procedure which uses significantly different components and wrench sizes. This is the closest procedure I found:

Very similar in design and parts, although the 5 series steering knuckle clearly affords more tool clearance.

As for advice, is I used a standard pickle fork to dislodge the lower control arm from the steering knuckle, and although it tore the boot on the LCA I was getting rid of it did the job just fine.
Also, measure your wheel center to fender lip before starting, that way you can recreate that distance with a jack and the wheel off for the tightening procedure.

I could not figure out how to remove the ball joint from the steering knuckle that holds the tension strut. I got it to the point where nothing but friction was holding it in but due to the head design I couldn't dislodge it...maybe a press is needed? If anyone else knows I'd like to hear. That ball joint was in good shape so I just gave up and left it in.

[jwebb335xi]

Originally Posted by Rocklicker

I just finished up the driver's side of this job today on my 328xi, which I assume is essentially the same. The Bentley is utterly worthless, it just describes the RWD procedure which uses significantly different components and wrench sizes. This is the closest procedure I found:

Very similar in design and parts, although the 5 series steering knuckle clearly affords more tool clearance.

As for advice, is I used a standard pickle fork to dislodge the lower control arm from the steering knuckle, and although it tore the boot on the LCA I was getting rid of it did the job just fine.
Also, measure your wheel center to fender lip before starting, that way you can recreate that distance with a jack and the wheel off for the tightening procedure.

I could not figure out how to remove the ball joint from the steering knuckle that holds the tension strut. I got it to the point where nothing but friction was holding it in but due to the head design I couldn't dislodge it...maybe a press is needed? If anyone else knows I'd like to hear. That ball joint was in good shape so I just gave up and left it in.

For the Ball Joint on the tension/traction strut, I removed caliper, rotor and dust shield. After soaking the Ball Joint in penetrating oil, I attached a two jaw puller, applied the hammer method. Then I applied the bigger, harder hammer method.

90 minutes per side, once you learn, and you have a chance to clean-up brakes, and guide/slide pins....


Good luck!

[rothwem]

Looking at those E60 parts, I wonder if anyone has ever tried to stick those on an E90. The axle shafts are the same E60xi to E90xi, they're just 39mm longer on the E60xi. So it would conceivably add 40mm of track on each side, like a long travel kit.

Hot damn that would be cool.

[jwebb335xi]

Originally Posted by rothwem

Looking at those E60 parts, I wonder if anyone has ever tried to stick those on an E90. The axle shafts are the same E60xi to E90xi, they're just 39mm longer on the E60xi. So it would conceivably add 40mm of track on each side, like a long travel kit.

Hot damn that would be cool.

Would you also need control arm, sway bar end links, tie rods, etc?

[Rocklicker]

Originally Posted by jwebb335xi

For the Ball Joint on the tension/traction strut, I removed caliper, rotor and dust shield. After soaking the Ball Joint in penetrating oil, I attached a two jaw puller, applied the hammer method. Then I applied the bigger, harder hammer method.

I did the same except I cycled MAP gas, pen oil, and beer like 4 times. Didn't have a jaw puller but it sounded like the BFH was your final solution anyways. Giving up seemed like the safer, saner option for me.

[kenmar]

So, It sounds like the tension/traction strut does NOT separate from the ball joint as easily as implied in that BavAuto video. It looked wayyyy too easy in that video: unbolt and the arm pops free ... no suspension work is ever THAT easy! I will be replacing my bushings with poly bushings shortly and don't want to wreck the boot on the ball joint. Sounds like the consensus is lots of WD40 and BFH is the best approach? Heat would fry the grease inside the joint

[Rocklicker]

Yeah I was very leery of getting the ball joint too hot for that reason (also didn't want to burn the boot) but temps in the high 100s will help loosen things and also really help draw in pen oil or wax. There are two ball joints, the permanent one on the LCA that fell out in the video came out with some persuasion, but it's a straightforward taper. The ball joint that attaches to open end of the tension strut may not need replacing and has a much more difficult design.

[jwebb335xi]

Originally Posted by kenmar

So, It sounds like the tension/traction strut does NOT separate from the ball joint as easily as implied in that BavAuto video. It looked wayyyy too easy in that video: unbolt and the arm pops free ... no suspension work is ever THAT easy! I will be replacing my bushings with poly bushings shortly and don't want to wreck the boot on the ball joint. Sounds like the consensus is lots of WD40 and BFH is the best approach? Heat would fry the grease inside the joint

I strongly encourage you to remove caliper, rotor and dust shield. Soak the joint in PB Blaster, Liquid Wrench, or WD40, then use a jaw puller to put tension on the joint. After I "learned" on the driver's side how best to get this done, I believe it was about 6 or 8 hits with the hammer on the passenger side and the joint was free without harm. My car is 9 plus years old, with 101k miles, probably 30k of which are winter miles!!!

[kenmar]

Thanks for the advice. I will try it in a couple of weeks

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by kenmar

So, It sounds like the tension/traction strut does NOT separate from the ball joint as easily as implied in that BavAuto video. It looked wayyyy too easy in that video: unbolt and the arm pops free ... no suspension work is ever THAT easy! I will be replacing my bushings with poly bushings shortly and don't want to wreck the boot on the ball joint. Sounds like the consensus is lots of WD40 and BFH is the best approach? Heat would fry the grease inside the joint

The 5 series arm shown is aluminum and so no rust welding to the ball joint and spindle and that car must be a garage queen, there is no rust underneath! (Bavauto has NH address, salted roads)

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by Rocklicker

I could not figure out how to remove the ball joint from the steering knuckle that holds the tension strut. I got it to the point where nothing but friction was holding it in but due to the head design I couldn't dislodge it...maybe a press is needed? If anyone else knows I'd like to hear. That ball joint was in good shape so I just gave up and left it in.

That ball joint is reported to be very difficult to remove, due to rust welding itself in the hole it is placed in. The hole it is placed in the spindle makes a cup shape where salted winter road slush sits in and collects, resulting in a lot of rust.
If you removed the two torx screws bolting it to the spindle, the only thing that is holding it is the rust bonding. You will need a lot of penetrating oil and a lot of hammering to brake the rust bond and get it out. Heat will help too. I haven't replaced it but from others reported here, if I were to replace it I would soak it in penetrating oil from top. Get a good matching size socket to the hole on top, place it there and hammer it down. Once in a while try to hit the spindle at the area where it goes inside the spindle too. The horizontal hits on the spindle will help, just like they do on separating a ball joint. The hit for a very short time distorts the perfect circle hole with the impact, this distortion helps breaking the rust bond. As the impact shock passes the circle goes back to its shape. Steel is elastic within its limits.

Then hit from top with socket placed. Also keep the arm attached to the ball joint, but not fully tightened, and hit the arm downward also with hammer to get the ball joint out. Keep repeating everything: add penetrating oil so it can reach the not wetted rust as more rust breaks free, hit from top, hit from side, hit on the arm and so on. Heat with a torch there to loosen up chemical rust bonds also.

If you have air setup, use an air hammer. It speeds up things a lot. You can hammer once in 3~5 seconds at most effectively, it hammers many times a single second and at least as best as yours with every hit.

All that said, if the ball joint is fine, why "beat" yourself and the spindle up, leave it in, if ain't broke don't fix it.

[Rocklicker]

I could not figure out how to get a socket on top for a wide, direct hit without pulling the front axle to make the necessary room. Is that actually possible?

[PhaseP]

I haven't had to replace that ball joint myself, so I can't say for sure.
There was a thread on this where I guy struggled with it and eventually got it out with torch and hammering it out. You can search for it.

If you can't get a good swing with the socket, you could try socket on an extension, preferably 1/2 inch socket and extension, hit on the extension.

In any case, since on xi that ball joint is a separate part than the tension (more correct term compression on xi) arm, for just replacing the arm, it doesn't need to be removed or replaced. Since arm separates from it. I figure you were able to separate the arm from it.

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by Rocklicker

I could not figure out how to get a socket on top for a wide, direct hit without pulling the front axle to make the necessary room. Is that actually possible?

This is a good idea, see post #9 and #12, it is for 5 series with aluminum arm. With the cast iron arm of E90 it would be easier. It can be used in combination of hitting with hammer from top with a punch or socket or extension or what not:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=190159

Basically adding a spacer in between the arm and the spindle, it is using the tightening of the nut off the ball joint as a puller to pull it down from its hole. Smart idea.

[rothwem]

For what its worth, I used a pickle fork to get the control arm off of the ball joint shank, but I destroyed the ball joint boot. No biggie though, because I was replacing the ball joint as well.

I found that in order to get the ball joint out of the knuckle, I needed to soak it overnight in penetrating oil (from the top) and then hit it with a hammer and punch. I didn't use a socket, and I found that hitting it from different angles actually helped.

Then again, the car I did that on was an Atlanta car. My current wagon is a DC metro vehicle that also spent a year in Ohio. I'm dreading doing the control arms/balljoints when they're due.

Originally Posted by jwebb335xi

Would you also need control arm, sway bar end links, tie rods, etc?

I'm sure you would. I'm not even sure that the control arms are clocked correctly. I just think it would be cool to have some Aluminum bling for our AWD cars.

[Rocklicker]

Originally Posted by PhaseP

This is a good idea, see post #9 and #12, it is for 5 series with aluminum arm. With the cast iron arm of E90 it would be easier. It can be used in combination of hitting with hammer from top with a punch or socket or extension or what not:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=190159

Basically adding a spacer in between the arm and the spindle, it is using the tightening of the nut off the ball joint as a puller to pull it down from its hole. Smart idea.

Oh I like this idea a lot, going to give it a go! My car came from the midwest so it's bound up extra tight with rust at that interface.