Hi All,
I recently purchased a 2008 base V6 with 97k (but a replacement transmission as of 30k miles ago). I am very happy with the car, and I am also happy to get back to working on our vehicles as a hobby, after many years away.
I have read everything I can on this site and from other sources, and cannot quite figure out how I am making this so difficult . I started with the passenger side, in order to learn the best way to do this, and I am stopped in my tracks as I try to put the new arm in. The old one came out easily.
The situation is:
Vehicle raised on that side and on stands
Eccentric bolts positions were marked before removal
Old control arm out
New control arm ball joint will not go into its "socket"...

I have tried to get the ball joint into its rightful resting place, but I cannot get it seated enough to hand-tighten the nut onto the stud. The new ball joint is quite stiff, and I cannot move it by hand, so when I attempt to get the arm in position in order to seat the ball joint, the stud sticks into the hole at an angle and goes no further, no matter how many different things I have tried. A partial list includes

Tapping the stud into different angles in order to be better positioned to slide into the hole when the arm is raised.
Raising the arm at various point to better position same as above
Raising the hub/disc in order to create more space to swing the arm into position
And many other fruitless efforts...

Is there a trick to getting the arm into the correct position? I have even started to take the tie rod end off in an attempt to gain more "wiggle room". Is this a good idea/recommended? I am concerned that the tie rod removal tool will shred the rubber boot...

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
David

 

Stud on ball joint is too stiff to move into hole. And gets hung up on the way... Any suggestions?

 

Quick question... where do you guys buy parts? Pelican? Gaudin? Others? I read a post elsewhere about a person with a similar struggle to mine (ball joint stud not seating in its hole), and in his case the stud was too long -- 1mm or so. In his case (and maybe mine), that is just long enough to not quite make it through e hole as the arm is tilted and the ball joint pushed into its socket....