So, my experience this past weekend replacing the lower ball joint and LCA.

Lower ball joint is not that bad. Just a tight space especially the bolt that is below the CV joint. I had the front of my car on jack stands and ended up jacking the motor up about an inch to get the bolt out. Some people might not agree with this but i ended up cutting about 1/2" off the bolt to make it easier to drop back in.


LCA!! This would have been an 1 hour job if i had the right tool. I watched a video on youtube and the one trick they mentioned was to use a saw zaw to cut the bushing out. This is great if the saw zaw would fit. Getting the saw zaw blade to go flush with the LCA housing was a problem. I would recomend a Pneumatic Reciprocating Saw http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...Fe9aMgodrQYACA.

I am 100% positive if i had the saw it would have taken me about an hour! The saw zaw was nice to cut out the bushing itself but the metal colar / sleeve was the hard part.


To get the new bushing back in i used 1/2" all thread rod with some washers and my buddies bushing cups just like the video shows. Went in no problem.


Another side note for the LCA is when putting the lower control arm back in the new bushing. It was not something that you are able to just push back in. We ended up getting a truck ratchet strap and hooking it up to the lower control arm then the other side to my rear suspension. You will also need to have the lower control arm bolted back in under the rotor and the ball joint lined up. Once we had it all lined up we used the strap and ratcheted it back into place. It worked out great.


No need to drop the sub frame at all. With all the right tools i think i could have done the ball joint and LCA bushing in less than 3 hours total (plus pizza!)

I bought the LCA bushing and lower ball joint on Ebay for about $35 bucks each (just OEM replacement parts). So, i spent about $70 plus pizza and beer A local mechanic was going to charge over $200 for just the labor.

Tools:
jack
jack stands
sockets
wrenches
saw
hammer
1/2" threaded rod about 6-8" with washers and nuts and cups for each end - i used my buddies bushing kit.
ratchet strap
greese for the new bushing


Hope this helps. I am by no means a mechanic but with the right tools both can be done in a few hours.

 

I admire your courage & commend your success. Having done this, I'd still opt to drop sub-frame. Takes longer, yes, but actually makes everything( ball joints, sway bushes, PS hose clamps) easier. Just my 2cents.

 

I did mine in about an hour (had it on a lift) using an air chisel on the metal LCA bushing sleeves and using the threaded rod/bearing press die method to get the new bushing on. I replaced the bushings with a set of Powerflexes.

I actually bought my bushings from Glenn (the guy who made that video), and he suggested the torch method as well, but I chickened out. Only difference was I mangled the hell out of the OE bushing sleeves to get them out. They were shot anyway, so to hell with them.

I couldn't maneuver my Sawzall into proper position to cut the sleeve (I did the bushings in my AWD Talon this way), but a small body metal saw could have done the trick.

 

Having a lift would make this exercise a whole lot simpler. Complete sub-frame drop w/ only a jack, regular tools & a coupla stands took mine 6 slow paced hours. Still wouldn't do it any other way after seeing how tight everything is & not having the press & chisel.

 

How did you get the control arm off the ball joints? I've got 3 of the 4 off but one is really giving me some trouble