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[Nextgen]

Did the wishbones but still had camber wander and some rather unpredictable handling ...!
Idler arm only had mm of vertical play (when breaker bar applied), but major major effects on the steering geometry.....

Resulted in *centimeteres* of L-R play in the steering.

Just do the idler arm. They're cheap off eBay, easy  (with a knack) and my goodness, totaly different car.

I apologise if something like this has been posted before, but here's a little "How I Did It...."

You need 1 off 18mm socket,
A torque wrench set for 60 NM
A breaker (crowbar) bar or a set of balljoint splitters with very thin arms, as there is virtualy no space between the idler arm and the balljoint.

Jack the car up, secure it (axle stand and chocks) and turn steering to full right lock.

Take the wheel off ;-)

Slacken the idler arm retaining nut and unthread the nut to the end of the thread, drop the arm down (still retained) so that you can get a socket on the balljoint nut and loosen that off completely. Screw the arm nut back up as you are about to possibly put lots of force on it!

Wedge your breaker bar into the joint, using the track rod bolt hole casting in the steering tie bar as a fulcrum, tap the balljoint a bit with a metal hammer (DONT Hit the threaded part or clobber the end of the thread without a nut on it as you can bend/round it off/otherwise stuff it. The lean on the bar until the balljoint pops out of place.

Undo the idle arm nut, take it off, and discard. Fit the new one over the shaft and thread the washer and nut on till the nut is full of thread, but don't tighten it. you still need to leave enough space to get a torque wrench on the nut at the top.

If you used dismatling oil, you will have to degrease and dry the taper on the balljoint, or you might end up very very frustrated as you try to torque up the nut....

Knock in the taper and torque up the balljoint nut, then do up and torque up the retaining nut.

Job done.

It can be made easier by removing the track rod balljoint from the steering tie bar (scissor-type balljoint splitter makes things easy here), but remember to dry and clean the tapers again!


Passed my MOT after changing it....

Hope this helps anyone, let me know if anythings wrong!

[Chopsdad]

Nice guide.  Perhaps the Admins will consider adding it to the list. TB

[Nextgen]

There's already a decent how2 in the maintainance section written by one of the more experienced members -
This is purely a "how I did it", as i did it on the "roadside", just a little differently!

Cheers,
Edwin

[philayl]

Good job  , out of curiosity how long did it take you?