Hello all, I have a 06 R50. I installed some Bilstein shocks, lowering springs and vorshlag adjustable camber plates.
I removed the control arm ball joint from the bottom of the knuckle and also the steering tie rod to get more freedom to get the strut in (which took a lot of persuasion!). Finally after some cussing and hammering I got the strut into the knuckle and tightened the pinch bolt.

HOWEVER, the knuckle now sits a few inches too far outboard to install the ball joint. The strut does not have enough movement to get the knuckle over to the lca ball joint.
I double checked the orientation of the camber plate and it is fine.
If I jack the knuckle will it move inboard? I tried that a few times but could not keep it from sliding off the jack and there is not a good place to place a jack :(
Should I install the tie rod and then jack the knuckle?

I welcome all advice!

 

The sway bar needs to be loose on both ends iirc

 

The sway bar is already disconnected.
I am thinking of connecting the out ball joint and steering tie rod before tightening the top of the strut on the camber plate. The camber plates are adjustable so I am thinking they might have to be loose to locate the ball joint.
I hope I am able to slide it enough on top. It is such a pain though because there is not a good place to jack up the knuckle :(

 

Something seems fishy. I didn’t need to remove the ball joint to change my struts, and I don’t recall having issues with the bottom being too far outboard.

 

I know :(
The only thing that come to my is the adjustable camber plates and the fact that the springs are different length than stock.

 

That shouldn’t matter. I also have Vorshlag plates and lowering springs.

 

Agree something is off

some pics?

 

Is your CV half shaft hyper extended, preventing you from lining up the spindle and outer ball joint? Agreed, you don't need to separate ball joint to remove strut.

 

I think this might be true :(

i didn’t need to separate my ball joint from the spindle to remove the strut. I separated the two in order to line up and make it easier to get the strut in the knuckle. But I think you may be right. I am worried that I may have done something to the cv half shaft while wrestling with the knuckle :(