Thread: D2 Upper and Lower Ball Joint advice

Hi Mousie
I searched the net far and wide for advice on these balljoints, but came up with nothing. So i took a deep breath and jumped right in and replaced them myself. The top balljoint is meant to be fixed and the lower one is meant to be able to move, but should have some resistance...just like a tie rod end balljoint. My lower one was so stuffed, you could spin it around with no effort at all. The top one didn't really need replacing, they normally don't as they only provide a pivot point and the lower one is allowed movement to a certain tolerance. But I replaced both, you might as well do them while you have the steering knuckle off and the hub and axle out.

Now regarding the removal part, this is were it gets really tricky. For starters those balljoints are in VERY VERY tight, LR uses a special hydraulic tool to press them out, and apparently its a hard task as well. Especially the top ones, as the coil spring gets in the way. Regarding the tools, I had to make two, one to remove them and one to put the new ones in (hammering them in will not work, they need to be pressed in). To remove them I made up a little jig job that fits around the knuckle part and using a power screw I pressed them out. I used an 3/4in threaded rod and turned it with a heavy ratchet torque wrench. The new ones were pressed in at the same time, again using a power screw type device I made. It is hard to explain how I did this, and unfortunatly I didn't take any pics while I did it. I was going to do a full tutorial on how to do this, when I have going to do the drivers side, but my disco is in for an insurance assessment at the moment as I had a little accident about a month ago. When I get it back I will definatly do the tute, as I presume a few people want to know how to do this.

I was very satisfied that I was able to pull it off, beats paying $600 bucks to get it done.


Hope that helps


Edit: I notice you live in North Brisbane, if you are keen for a drive to the Lockyer Valley one day, you can borrow the tools I used...or if I have time I might be able to give you a hand with it.