Have a 2003 4.4 L322 in for rear clunks. BOTH upper and lower bushes/ joints left and right side had quite a bit of play fore and aft. Vehicle has 172K, ONLY city use.

Start by jacking on chassis rail, then axle stand under jack point. (I am doing 1 side at a time, and have elected to do it on the floor as hoists are both required for other jobs.)
Remove road wheel, brake caliper and bracket, disc rotor, ABS sensor, Axle stake nut (36mm 12 point socket) and then tap axle back a little to ensure it is free on splines.

Next, Remove park brake shoes and disconnect cable, then undo cable retaining clamp at backing plate (10mm socket)

Remove retaining nut for Toe stay bar attached to front edge of knuckle, then carefully and accurately stake/ mark the position of the upper camber eccentric washer in relation to the upper arm to ensure correct repositioning. Remove this eccentric bolt and washer.

Move knuckle down and back to allow Toe stay to be fed out and freed, then remove lower bush bolt and nut and remove knuckle assembly.

The lower bush is retained also with a circlip, remove this and as it is very awkward to press out, I used a decent hammer to drift it out of the knuckle. It was a lot easier than an A frame ball joint in fact.

The upper bush can be positioned in a press OK and with some selected sockets and pipe can be easily pressed out.

Pressing both back in is easier than removing them, requires again a selection of pipe and sockets, and some CRC to lube bores. I removed the rubber boot on the press side of the bushes to avoid damaging them with the pipe etc, this is very important as there is precious little material to press against and damaging the boot renders them useless in no time.

Finally, reassembly is reverse order, park brake cable is a bit fiddly but a good light source and small screwdriver or pick will help.

Make sure marks are lined up again on the upper eccentric washer, and fully tighten all bolts when vehicle is at rest. Checking the Wheel alignment is also worth performing.


All up, with air tools and a press, about 1 to 1.5 hours a side. Different story though if the axle splines are seized, or the press tools aren't right etc etc

JC