Replacing Lower Ball Joints on BA BF XR6 Falcon

Рет қаралды 2,159

Jeenzy

Ай бұрын

Thought I’d share the process of how I remove and replaced the lower ball joints on the XR6.

Пікірлер: 23

@TheRealAnarchrox Ай бұрын

Hey Jeenzy, this has helped me do my ball joints for the first time. Feel free to enquire to collect on a six pack for the advice mate. Saved my arse and about $600

@Jeenzy79 Ай бұрын

Hey mate, aha that’s awesome mate! Crazy how much you can save doing it yourself. Even after buying the tool (which you’ll have forever) and good quality ball joints, not aftermarket jobbies you still end up in front. Plus you get the satisfaction of knowing you’ve fixed it yourself, you get to know your car, plus you save some cash as well. Can’t go wrong 👌🏼

@FeralVG Ай бұрын

Thanks for the straightforward video instructions. I got caught out buying standard size lower ball joints, when I needed oversized ones. Apart from that, you did it a lot more efficiently than I did.

@Jeenzy79 Ай бұрын

Ah bugger, hopefully you got it all sorted in the end. They can be a bit of a nightmare to change, using the press saved so much time and energy. Definitely worth the investment.

@tonykitchner7200 Ай бұрын

Have done up a lot of BA's and BF's and when it came to lower ball joints for a little bit more work it was better to install complete lower control arms. Usually found that the inner bushings would be stuffed anyway and the arms are so cheap nowadays that it just made sense to change the complete arm over. It also helped when selling the car as people would look under the car and see nice shiny new control arms.

@Jeenzy79 Ай бұрын

Hey mate, yep replacement area is certainly an option these days with how cheap they are. Not too sure on the quality of the bushes and ball joint in them though but I imagine they would do the job just fine.

@commodorenut Ай бұрын

I’ve had my FG from new, and now have over 365k on it. Hasn’t been to a dealer since the last service in warranty😂. I do everything on it myself. They only have minor differences to BA/BF, so a lot of this is very familiar to me. I like that you’re changing the ball joints, and not the complete arm. Sure, it’s a little easier to just swap the whole arm, but the quality of the bushes is debatable. From my experience with the upper arms, the OEM bushes lasted twice as long (200k) compared to the bushes in the complete replacement arms (100k). But being a daily driver, my thoughts at the time were to replace the worn parts with complete new arms, to have minimal down time, and then over time, fit quality new bushes & ball joints to the original OEM arms. I’ve swapped out all 3 cast arms on the front on each side, and the control arms in the rear (also did diff bushes as we’ve all had to!). For the control blades I bought new nolathane arms and if they ever wear out, I’ll buy them again! How you set the BJ tool up is exactly how I did mine. In the cast arms, you only need a small amount of movement before they pop free, and that little gap is perfect. VB-VP Commodore front lower BJs are so much harder…… I’ve had to use heat and also freeze the new BJ. They are pressed metal, and new BJs are supplied as 10 thou oversized so they stay tight in the pre-stretched hole. Makes me appreciate how much easier the late model Falcons are to work on!

@Jeenzy79 Ай бұрын

@@commodorenut That’s awesome mate, I’m very much the same. I’ve played around with cars, Fords in particular since the first car I bought after leaving school in the mid 90’s… I could t even tell you when if ever I’ve taken any of my cars to a mechanic. I enjoy fixing things myself. And you’re right about the aftermarket arms too, I’ve never used them myself but much prefer to just press new bushes into the standard arms.

@jimminakis7710 Ай бұрын

Great vid mate

@Jeenzy79 Ай бұрын

Cheers mate 👍🏼

@russelblackwell6041 Ай бұрын

Thank you got that set to do ball joints in a NL Fairlane Ghia using a press the front end was a full rebuild your right about the cups they're not strong metal too that can chew out easy, but you save money and you always have the tool handy

@Jeenzy79 Ай бұрын

Nothing ever wrong with having some extra tools in she shed 👌🏼

@commodorenut Ай бұрын

These days the BJ removal kits are affordable and easy to get. A DIY person can justify the cost in the very first joint they change with it. I recommend anyone wanting to do this work to purchase one - wait until supercheap have them on sale. I like your videos mate. Down to earth, and just the facts, to give people enough confidence to have a go at it themselves. With my FG I found buying a handful of special tools has come in real handy. Long aircraft spanners (flat, with a ring at each end, one being a ratchet) in 15, 16, 18, 19 & 21 have been so useful, especially the 18mm. I also got ratchet/open end combo spanners in the same sizes (so once you’ve broken them free you don’t have to swing a 600mm long spanner). I struggled to find an impact socket set with an 18mm in it (which seems to be THE most common size used on BA-FG suspension) so I bought a deep set from 13mm-21mm (missing 18mm) and just bought a deep 18 on its own. Being impact, it’s too thick in the wall to do the upper BJ, and I’ve used a standard socket just how you did. I used to use the rattle gun a lot, but once I got my Makita ratchet (with a DIY customised 1/2” drive bit on it) I tend to manually crack everything, use the gun, and manually finish the tightening. Gives me more confidence in not over-torquing.

@Jeenzy79 Ай бұрын

The BJ kit made very light work of it that’s for sure. Definitely worth the investment, even just to change one like you mentioned. Very nothing wrong with getting a little collection of tools especially those specialty tools like the BJ kit. I’m in the process of having some shims made up specifically to do diff bushes. I have a set of those long ring spanners, they’re amazing for suspension nuts and bolts as you have plenty of leverage for those tight buggers. Cheers for the feedback too mate, much appreciated. 👍🏼

@russelblackwell6041 Ай бұрын

Those bumps stop rubbers on the front struts look chewed out might just be my eyesight

@Andrew-lq4ol Ай бұрын

I've got the exact same Strut on my XR6 - Do you know if they are factory? I suspect they are the source of some noise I get (the bump stops are still intact but seem really soft) , so I'm going to get the BC Extreme Drops you showed in another video when I get some $$ together...

@Jeenzy79 Ай бұрын

Hey mate, yep… these are just the factory ones. I had a k knocking noise in the front of my Fairmont that I couldn’t figure out where it came from. When I put the coilovers in the noise was completely gone so guess the factory struts just get noisy over time once they flog out.

@mattjacomos2795 Ай бұрын

Did this job with no special tools on my BA, it was a nightmare to get the old joint out. Ended up buying a bigger hammer and finally removing the whole control arm and taking to a workshop with a press. The press was about 20 tonnes when the old joint came out... I purchased a complete lower control arm from Ebay for the other side when it's due, rather than do that job again... Made a pretty funny video about it too...

@Jeenzy79 Ай бұрын

Yup, they certainly can be a bastard to do without the right tools, good thing you were able to access a press. I’ve had to do the exact same thing in the past and take the whole arm out to use a press. Replacement arms are always an option, though I’m not sure of the quality of the rubbers and ball joint in the arm itself.

@shanerorko8076 Ай бұрын

I can do these in about 10mins a side. I'm a mechanic of 16 years in the trade though.

@Jeenzy79 Ай бұрын

Holy shit! 10mins… that’s awesome mate!

@shanerorko8076 Ай бұрын

@@Jeenzy79 well that's with the wheel off already. It also depends how tight they are, if they're not super tight going in you can just hammer them in.

@Jeenzy79 Ай бұрын

@@shanerorko8076 Ah rightey’o, still that’s pretty impressive mate. Lots of practice I’m assuming, especially with how common they are.