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culcit
Samba Member
Joined: July 08, 2004
Posts: 91
Location: Connecticut
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 Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:02 am Post subject: Upper ball joint replacement on 93 Eurovan? |
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| Can anyone tell me how difficult this job is? I just noticed that I have torn boots on both sides and I'm getting a clunking noise from the passenger side so I think I need to do this very soon. Are there specialized tools involved or is it pretty straight forward (I don't have a repair manual as you can tell)? |
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culcit
Samba Member
Joined: July 08, 2004
Posts: 91
Location: Connecticut
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| Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:28 am Post subject: |
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| Anyone? |
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nintenDRU
Samba Member
Joined: November 18, 2009
Posts: 9
Location: HB, CA
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| Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 7:51 am Post subject: |
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| you might want to try the yahoo group EV_UPDATE they will help you for sure |
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markcm2
Samba Member
Joined: September 02, 2015
Posts: 505
Location: Bellingham, Washington
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 8:22 am Post subject: |
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I figured I'd bump this thread. I have torn boots on my front upper and lower ball joints and need to replace them although I don't immediately see how the upper ball joints come out of the control arm.
I bumped because I just can't get the hang of the Yahoo email thread thing, I don't understand why anyone would use a thread system like that instead of a normal forum 
My EV is a 1993 MV weekender. I have access to ALLDATA but it doesn't cover ball joint service. |
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tds3pete
Samba Member
Joined: April 04, 2004
Posts: 914
Location: Seattle, WA
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 10:28 am Post subject: |
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I did uppers and lowers on both sides of my 95. The first side took five hours which included a trip to the local Autozone to borrow the tools. I blew an hour or so trying to do it with my tools on hand.
The second side only took a couple of hours, which is a more reasonable time.
You will need to borrow an upper ball joint tool and a tie rod end tool. Both are common. I didn't use a tie rod end tool, choosing just to whack it with a hammer.
Get the tools and it all can be done in a half day.
I did the search and found a complete explanation with pix, which made it seem less imposing.
In my case I had the upper shot on one side and the lower shot on the other at about 150k.
_________________
'58 Westy camper-come and gone
'73 Westy-bought new in Holland,now gone
'86 Syncro weekender-come and gone
'79 Westy...Oscar
'95 Eurovan Camper/5 spd...Marsha Mellow |
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markcm2
Samba Member
Joined: September 02, 2015
Posts: 505
Location: Bellingham, Washington
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 10:33 am Post subject: |
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Thanks,
For anyone else looking for a write up, and if you are a member of the Yahoo 93 eurovan group, here is the link:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/93eurovans/conversations/topics/8917
All credit to Yahoo member Jeff, here is his excellent write up:
| Quote: |
This document details one way a back-yard mechanic can R&R upper
balljoints on a Eurovan without specialty VW tools, by using tools
commonly available for rental or purchase at most any auto parts
store.
The lower balljoints are easy to replace so I will not detail that
procedure here (it's one big nut on the bottom of the joint and two
small bolts holding it to the wheel hub).
In addition to standard tools, you will need:
- A nice 1/2" drive breaker bar and set of 1/2" drive sockets
- A long cheater pipe (you slide the pipe over your breaker bar; this
extends the length of your breaker bar and increases your leverage on
it). I bought my cheater pipe from the home depot plumbing section.
It's a 1" diameter, 48" long, black steel pipe. You can find a picture
of it on the homedepot.com website under SKU# 438288. Most any home
depot store should stock these.
- A two/three jaw puller from your local auto parts store. I got mine
at Autozone. They have a free tool loan program and I took advantage
of that. You can see the puller I used by going to www.autozone.com
and entering in part number 27078 (Great Neck 5 ton puller).
- A balljoint press kit from your local auto parts store. I got mine
at Autozone as well (again taking advantage of the free tool loan
program). You can see the one I used by going to www.autozone.com and
entering in part number 27023. They have another balljoint press kit
that may work, and it is part number 27089 but I have no experience
with it so I can't say for sure. Note that I did NOT use the main
portion of this press kit (which is the C-Clamp looking thing) because
I just couldn't get it properly rigged up on the van.... I think it is
made and sized more for domestic vehicles. The only parts I used from
the kit were two of the sleeves. See the instructions below for more
details.
- You may not NEED this, but Autozone part number 27022 is a tie-rod
end puller and helps to get the tie-rod end out of the wheel bearing
housing. This tool is also available as a free loaner.
The upper joints are pressed out and then pressed in. To remove them:
1. With the vehicle on the ground, loosen the big nut for the
axleshaft (after you have done this NEVER roll the vehicle, even a few
inches).
2. Jack vehicle up and remove tire.
3. Remove brake caliper
4. Unbolt lower balljoint from wheel bearing housing
5. Remove long bolt for shock absorber and sway bar link.
6. Use whiteout to mark the position of the eccentric disc on the
upper wheel bearing housing
7. Remove the large nut for the upper balljoint.
8. Remove the bolt that secures the upper eccentric ring to the wheel
bearing housing.
9. Unbolt the tie rod end from the wheel bearing housing and remove
the wheel bearing housing (You don't HAVE to do this but it keeps the
housing out of the way and keeps you from bending the tie rod on
accident).
10. Use the 3-jaw puller to pull off the eccentric ring from the balljoint.
Next remove the metal circlip on the top of the balljoint. It may be
hard to see with the dirt and grime but if you use a flat head
screwdriver to clean up the top of the balljoint, you'll see the
circlip. Now you can remove the balljoint. The balljoint is pressed
DOWN out of the control arm. It is a seriously tight fit. Use the
three jaw puller for this by putting the jaws on the control arm and
the point of the puller on the top of the balljoint. When I did mine,
the point of the puller started to dig into the balljoint rather than
press the whole thing out of the control arm so I had to use an old
socket; I found a socket with an open-side that was big enough to rest
on the flat portion of the top of the balljoint, then put the point of
the press on the square hole of the socket (the square hole was
smaller than the pointed end of the puller so it worked ok). This will
probably ruin the socket by mangling the square hole in it, so use one
you don't care about. You might be able to improvise something else
but the point of the puller does have a tendency to want to drift
under all the pressure if it isn't locked into place by an indentation
of some sort. Use your breaker bar with your cheater pipe to tighten
the puller until the balljoint comes out. Wear safety glasses. It will
come out with a loud bang, quite suddenly. It will require a LOT of
tightening torque for that to happen. It seemed like I was tightening
forever before it finally gave way.
The new balljoint presses into place from the bottom up. This is where
you need a special VW tool which is a press that cradles the lower lip
of the balljoint and presses it evenly into place in the control arm.
You can get away without the special VW tool by combining the 3-jaw
puller with a few pieces from the balljoint press kit. The balljoint
press kit has a bunch of round metal cylinders of various diameters.
One of those cylinders is the perfect size to go on the bottom of the
balljoint... it JUST barely clears the joint and rubber boot and will
come to rest on the lower lip of the balljoint. Another cylinder is
just right to rest on the top of the control arm... select the
cylinder that is sized to make good contact to the upper control arm,
yet is big enough to allow the ball joint to come up into place. If
you look at the photo attached, you will see these cylinders in place
on top and bottom and will also see how the three jaw puller is used
with them. Note that the three jaw puller can be easily converted to a
two-jaw puller. I used it in the three-jaw configuration for
everything except pressing the new joint into place; for that I had to
convert it to two jaws because three wouldn't fit due to the shape of
the control arm. Also note that you need something on the top of the
top cylinder for the puller point to press against. Anything VERY
strong and flat will work here.... I used a cold chisel I had and it
worked fine. From here you just tighten the puller with your breaker
bar and cheater pipe and it will press the new balljoint into place.
Install the new circlip when you are done. You can use the three jaw
puller to re-install the eccentric disc into place, or you can just
install everything and know that it will be pressed into place
automatically when you tighten the big lower nut for the upper
balljoint (doing this will result in the hub pressing up on the
eccentric it until it stops).
Make sure you torque the big self locking nut for the balljoints (one
on the upper balljoint and one on the lower balljoint) to 118ft lbs. |
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jakehenes
Samba Member
Joined: March 18, 2007
Posts: 96
Location: milwaukee wisconsin
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 5:39 pm Post subject: |
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i just did this job. reading through it its pretty accurate. i used c clamp ball joint tool domestic style.
_________________
Owner and mechanic - riverwest auto. |
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markcm2
Samba Member
Joined: September 02, 2015
Posts: 505
Location: Bellingham, Washington
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 6:02 pm Post subject: |
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| jakehenes wrote: |
| i just did this job. reading through it its pretty accurate. i used c clamp ball joint tool domestic style. |
Could you elaborate on what the "domestic" style is? Does that refer to the size?
I just picked up a 12 Ton frame press today at harbor freight. It looks well built, big but not huge, was on sale from $175 to $125 and then I applied a 20% off coupon so I walked out for $99 plus tax.
I've got my replacement ball joints ready and the van is in the garage still since I just did the timing belt. I also have engine mounts in the mail.
Any additional tips on the ball joints aside from the post above?
Thanks |
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gakali
Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2007
Posts: 448
Location: Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 8:18 pm Post subject: |
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| markcm2 wrote: |
| jakehenes wrote: |
| i just did this job. reading through it its pretty accurate. i used c clamp ball joint tool domestic style. |
Could you elaborate on what the "domestic" style is? Does that refer to the size?
I just picked up a 12 Ton frame press today at harbor freight. It looks well built, big but not huge, was on sale from $175 to $125 and then I applied a 20% off coupon so I walked out for $99 plus tax.
I've got my replacement ball joints ready and the van is in the garage still since I just did the timing belt. I also have engine mounts in the mail.
Any additional tips on the ball joints aside from the post above?
Thanks |
Clean and lube the area at the ball joint pin hole on the knuckle where the boot contacts/rotates on to avoid the boots tearing again.
_________________
Why do it? Because you can.
1999 Eurovan
2003 A4 Avant 1.8T Quattro
1992 W201 190e 2.3 Mercedes
2006 W220 S600 V12 Twin Turbo 5.5 Mercedes |
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Xtremjeepn
Samba Member
Joined: October 21, 2012
Posts: 1539
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 6:18 am Post subject: |
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I just converted a 1993 Syncro to 4 wheel big disc brakes off a 2003 Van. (More info on the Syncro http://www.cavevan.com/forum/index.php?topic=122.0)
This required changing out the knuckles.
If you are going to do the upper ball joint, you may as well do the lowers, shocks, brakes and tie rod ends at the same time. They all have to come off.
The C-clamp style ball joint press can be rented for free at most auto parts stores.
It helps a bit to soak the upper ball joint for a few days in rust penetrant. This 1993 looks fairly rust free, but here is what the upper ball joint looked like when it came out.
_________________
http://www.cavevan.com |
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soissisc
Samba Member
Joined: April 04, 2007
Posts: 632
Location: Western Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 3:11 pm Post subject: Re: Upper ball joint replacement on 93 Eurovan? |
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A little late to the party here...
I covered this in my eurovan thread.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...p;start=20
Good Luck!
_________________
Mark
68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up) |
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Jonwid
Samba Member
Joined: August 18, 2013
Posts: 163
Location: Long Beach
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| Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 11:15 am Post subject: Re: Upper ball joint replacement on 93 Eurovan? |
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Going to do the ball joints on the 03 EV GLS soon.
I plan on using this puller/press kit:
and also this ball joint and Tie Rod separator:
Do I need to remove the entire steering knuckle, especially when it comes to removing and replacing the upper ball joint? It looks like the nut on that top ball joint is really close to the outer CV boot.
Also, do I need to mess with the torsion bars, relieve them at all? I saw a German meister mechanic on you tube doing the T4 ball joints and his procedure called for relieving the torsion. |
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Thegrateronzini
Samba Member
Joined: October 03, 2015
Posts: 8
Location: Buffalo
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| Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 9:38 am Post subject: Re: Upper ball joint replacement on 93 Eurovan? |
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| Jonwid wrote: |
Going to do the ball joints on the 03 EV GLS soon.
Do I need to remove the entire steering knuckle, especially when it comes to removing and replacing the upper ball joint? It looks like the nut on that top ball joint is really close to the outer CV boot.
Also, do I need to mess with the torsion bars, relieve them at all? I saw a German meister mechanic on you tube doing the T4 ball joints and his procedure called for relieving the torsion. |
Hey man, just did this yesterday with that exact ball joint press. It was a pain to get the press in there just right. But if you use the top piece with the big hole, the medium round sleeve on top and the smaller of the two long ones on bottom over the ball joint you should be able to just barely squeeze all of your peices in and then insert the threaded shaft you will be good. Only problem is that it ends up pushing with the threads but it works and there is no other combination that I could come up with. I used a pitman arm puller to pop the tie rod ends and lower ball joint. Make sure you disconnect the abs line at the top of the wheel well if you have abs. I found it easiest to remove the whole hub to replace the lowers. I also used the medium size ring in a vise to pound off the ecentric ring. Upper and Lowers, tie rod ends and cv axles in just under 3hrs/side. I hope this can be of help for you!
Mine were pretty bad
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Jonwid
Samba Member
Joined: August 18, 2013
Posts: 163
Location: Long Beach
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| Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:58 am Post subject: Re: Upper ball joint replacement on 93 Eurovan? |
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| Thegrateronzini wrote: |
Hey man, just did this yesterday with that exact ball joint press. It was a pain to get the press in there just right. But if you use the top piece with the big hole, the medium round sleeve on top and the smaller of the two long ones on bottom over the ball joint you should be able to just barely squeeze all of your peices in and then insert the threaded shaft you will be good. Only problem is that it ends up pushing with the threads but it works and there is no other combination that I could come up with. I used a pitman arm puller to pop the tie rod ends and lower ball joint. Make sure you disconnect the abs line at the top of the wheel well if you have abs. I found it easiest to remove the whole hub to replace the lowers. I also used the medium size ring in a vise to pound off the ecentric ring. Upper and Lowers, tie rod ends and cv axles in just under 3hrs/side. I hope this can be of help for you!
Mine were pretty bad |
On your EV ball-joint job, did you have to brace up the upper arm torsion bar, like the guy did on the British T4 page? Or did you have to mess with the torsion bar nut at all? Also, why did you find it easier to remove the whole knuckle to remove and replace the lower ball joint? What was in the way?
(I plan to remove the rotor and maybe the dust shield, but it just doesn't look like there's much to the lower ball joint that could get in the way. Also, did you replace the two bolts on the lower joint? I've read that those are stretch bolts.) |
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ovsa
Samba Member
Joined: January 17, 2016
Posts: 108
Location: alberta
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| Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2016 7:05 pm Post subject: Re: Upper ball joint replacement on 93 Eurovan? |
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I know this is an older thread but didn't see the answer on whether or not you have to relieve the tension the torsion bars before removing the ball joints
I plan on doing this in the next little while, want to be sure I got it right.
Thanks
1996 EVC |
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Jonwid
Samba Member
Joined: August 18, 2013
Posts: 163
Location: Long Beach
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| Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 7:41 am Post subject: Re: Upper ball joint replacement on 93 Eurovan? |
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Been psyching myself up to do this job for a while now.
I need to get serious about it now because the front pads are just about down to the trip wire, and I've got full a set of new Nokians waiting to roll.
I may tackle the lower ball joints this weekend as a warm up.
But looky what I got coming my way in about a week: 
Found it on Amazon for $129 shipped. I couldn't resist, as I know how much my indy mechanic would charge me for this job. This kit looks like a copy of the English Sealey VSE725 tool that's featured at the VWT4forum.co.uk ball joint DIY linked in this thread.
It almost makes me wonder if the upper joint can press out of the knuckle using this tool without even having to take off the alignment gear. It does say "in situ" which seems to imply that the tool can work to press out a joint from on top. |
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my_vw_sucks
Samba Member
Joined: June 08, 2016
Posts: 41
Location: Bay Area
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| Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 11:19 am Post subject: Re: Upper ball joint replacement on 93 Eurovan? |
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| Jonwid wrote: |
Found it on Amazon for $129 shipped. |
I know this is a few months old, but could you provide a link to where you picked it up? I've been scouring Amazon and can't find it. |
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soissisc
Samba Member
Joined: April 04, 2007
Posts: 632
Location: Western Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 11:55 am Post subject: Re: Upper ball joint replacement on 93 Eurovan? |
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I found this, a bit more expensive now though.
http://www.amazon.com/Front-Axle-Upper-Joint-Extra...amp;sr=1-7
_________________
Mark
68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up) |
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my_vw_sucks
Samba Member
Joined: June 08, 2016
Posts: 41
Location: Bay Area
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| Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 4:58 pm Post subject: Re: Upper ball joint replacement on 93 Eurovan? |
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| I'm going to give it a go using a HF C-clamp ball joint press. It was about $60 after 20% off. Hope I don't regret not paying the additional $165 on the Sealey style too. |
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Jonwid
Samba Member
Joined: August 18, 2013
Posts: 163
Location: Long Beach
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| Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 9:10 pm Post subject: Re: Upper ball joint replacement on 93 Eurovan? |
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| my_vw_sucks wrote: |
| Jonwid wrote: |
Found it on Amazon for $129 shipped. |
I know this is a few months old, but could you provide a link to where you picked it up? I've been scouring Amazon and can't find it. |
Here is the current Amazon link to the Sealey copy kit. It comes shipped from LA, not from overseas, so it's fast shipping.
Volkswagen T4 Front Upper Ball Joint Removal installation Tool Set SF0220 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017F4NS8E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_vOowxb899DRZK
I think you can probably do this job with the HF kit. I have that HF kit also, have used it on my 98 F150 with great success and also used it on a couple of others. I seriously thought about just using the HF kit, but one thing is, there's not a lot of room to work even in those big wheel wells.
However, I just can't stress enough how easy the Sealey copy kit made this upper ball joint job on the EV. It was just a piece of cake, every step.
I notice the Sealey copy kit is now $125 shipped, $5 under what I paid!
To me, this made the Sealey copy kit completely worth it. Plus, I have no plans to give up the EV and will probably get another use out of the kit, I could see doing this again in another 25k miles --why not? |
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