Thread: Lower control arm bushes/Arms

Originally Posted by loanrangie

I have read that you need to remove the but so the stub can slide out a bit so the ball joint can come out.

I think it’s about getting the right angle to get it out rather than a model year issue. I believe you’ll be ok if going on hoist but limited in wiggling the ball joint end out of doing jacked off the ground

Confirming this is correct summary?




Does anyone in WA want my old Lemforder LCAs to rebush?

Edit: the Britpart video confirms these torque values.

I can't confirm the torque settings, but I'm led to believe that final torque should be done AFTER the wheel alignment is done and with the car in normal ride height. Not sure of the practicality of doing that, so perhaps the way you propose works as well.

Is the measurement to the inside of the guard lip, or another fixed point? There seems to be a bit of variability in the guard fit up.

Originally Posted by Eric SDV6SE

I can't confirm the torque settings, but I'm led to believe that final torque should be done AFTER the wheel alignment is done and with the car in normal ride height. Not sure of the practicality of doing that, so perhaps the way you propose works as well.

Is the measurement to the inside of the guard lip, or another fixed point? There seems to be a bit of variability in the guard fit up.

I would measure before anyway before lifting on hoist for the loaded clearance to confirm approx 462mm. The chosen gap can be any two points in reality but advantage of this is that don’t require wheel to be on using a jack to raise the hub while on hoist.

The wheel alignment only concerns the rear 275Nm bolts through the bushes which must be done up at the normal ride height. You gotta do them up close to the right cam setting in order to get to the alignment shop.

The other nuts are not touched in the alignment so you have to torque them anyway so may as well do all at right setting.

Ok so changed the front Lower Arms as a job today as well as changed the diff and TB box oils (mentioned elsewhere).

As a first timer finished everything in the day with a few cups of tea and some pondering. Triple checking diff oil quantities and making sure it all gets in is probably equally as time consuming.

Did the job on the two post hoist at local Men’s Shed which made things easy.

Only problem now is even though I tried to put the alignment setting back close the car is now throwing a bunch of dash light faults / HDC / Special Programmes / lowered etc. within 500m of driving so I guess that is just way out alignment and please tell me I’ve broken nothing else? Its steering about 45 degrees off centre to go straight! It’s goes in tomorrow morning for a proper alignment so I hope ok to limp it 20km there?

Some amateur learnings to share;

I used spray can paint markings on the cams but a proper marker pen like in the Britpart video would be so much better. I thought it would be easy to find one but I was wrong.

Sprayed CRC on all bolts a few days ago and every nut released easily. Back bushing bolts were slightly rusted and slightly stubborn to remove but nothing bad (compared to UK).

The Meyle HD kit from Advanced Factors fitted perfectly.

My MY08 definitely cannot release the ball joint taper to free the LCA without releasing the hub nut and pulling the hub out from the drive shaft creating enough clearance to lift the arm. This I found out the painful way with everything released so had to partially reassemble the LCA and break the hub nut in the air using long bar to hold hub from turning!!!!!! . With this done it releases and the new one fits easily. Repeat on other side.

(I think the difference might be the 19” wheel cars have a different hub design for the bigger brakes.)

Next, the Meyle kit comes with nuts that have had the end crushed slightly to create a nylock effect. These have quite a bit of resistance when tightening and spun the ball joint taper on refitting. The trick of lightly loading the taper by jacking up the hub up worked a treat to wind on this nut.

Torquing to proper spec the inner bolts through the bushes is an impossibility. No access for a socket.

Why the lower strut bolt is 300Nm is a mystery to me.

The car was hoisted in locked Access Height but in lifting the hub to the correct ride height to set bolt torque it worked on one side but the other side wanted to lift the car off the hoist within 80mm of the correct height. Ended up lowering to ground on ramps to get the height right on this side with much less pleasant access to the bolts.

Now I have the used but genuine LR LCAs if anyone in WA wants them for rebushing??

Originally Posted by PerthDisco

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Did the job on the two post hoist at local Men’s Shed which made things easy.

Now I have the used but genuine LR LCAs if anyone in WA wants them for rebushing??

Mine are only about 30,000km old otherwise I'd be in that like a rat up a drainpipe. I want to know which men's shed I can join that has a hoist!

Clue - it also has an bee hive section so I’ve now got 3 bee stings for my troubles to face and arms since today was the day they check the honey and get them excited.

Can anyone tell me how I will go limping to wheel alignment shop tomorrow with the dashboard of faults I’ve now got? Don’t have much choice.

Originally Posted by PerthDisco

Ok so changed the front Lower Arms as a job today as well as changed the diff and TB box oils (mentioned elsewhere).

As a first timer finished everything in the day with a few cups of tea and some pondering. Triple checking diff oil quantities and making sure it all gets in is probably equally as time consuming.

Did the job on the two post hoist at local Men’s Shed which made things easy.

Only problem now is even though I tried to put the alignment setting back close the car is now throwing a bunch of dash light faults / HDC / Special Programmes / lowered etc. within 500m of driving so I guess that is just way out alignment and please tell me I’ve broken nothing else? Its steering about 45 degrees off centre to go straight! It’s goes in tomorrow morning for a proper alignment so I hope ok to limp it 20km there?

Some amateur learnings to share;

I used spray can paint markings on the cams but a proper marker pen like in the Britpart video would be so much better. I thought it would be easy to find one but I was wrong.

Sprayed CRC on all bolts a few days ago and every nut released easily. Back bushing bolts were slightly rusted and slightly stubborn to remove but nothing bad (compared to UK).

The Meyle HD kit from Advanced Factors fitted perfectly.

My MY08 definitely cannot release the ball joint taper to free the LCA without releasing the hub nut and pulling the hub out from the drive shaft creating enough clearance to lift the arm. This I found out the painful way with everything released so had to partially reassemble the LCA and break the hub nut in the air using long bar to hold hub from turning!!!!!! . With this done it releases and the new one fits easily. Repeat on other side.

(I think the difference might be the 19” wheel cars have a different hub design for the bigger brakes.)

Next, the Meyle kit comes with nuts that have had the end crushed slightly to create a nylock effect. These have quite a bit of resistance when tightening and spun the ball joint taper on refitting. The trick of lightly loading the taper by jacking up the hub up worked a treat to wind on this nut.

Torquing to proper spec the inner bolts through the bushes is an impossibility. No access for a socket.

Why the lower strut bolt is 300Nm is a mystery to me.

The car was hoisted in locked Access Height but in lifting the hub to the correct ride height to set bolt torque it worked on one side but the other side wanted to lift the car off the hoist within 80mm of the correct height. Ended up lowering to ground on ramps to get the height right on this side with much less pleasant access to the bolts.

Now I have the used but genuine LR LCAs if anyone in WA wants them for rebushing??

Thanks for the effort of putting all your experiences here. Did you notice any wear in the upper arms, ball joints or strut bushes? My front LCAs were replaced with factory units at 120,000km, not too bad, but now, 67000km later LRA tells me thst they're gone again. Don't know why the first lot lasted twice as long as the second set. Plus j reckon it's akso the uppers plus wear in the strut bushes.im thinking about replacing all CA's at once.