Haaa, Matt, ... it's not that easy. Have to remember that not so many people have the skill you have.
Unless Blazer is a real good wrencher then he may have to pay the price.

 

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Depending on the age of your car, if you do it yourself you may want to do the ball joints at the same time as well.

Which ball joints? At the apex of the control arm, or at the strut? And, is it necessary to lower the subframe in order to r&r the apex ones?

 

My guy did this job for $300 all up.

 

one at the inner pivot, the other under the steering knuckle.

There are those that use a special tool to swap the front bushing, but if you do drop the front subframe, everything is there with easy access. There are other things to think about are steering rack bushing, as well as those for the front sway bar.

As far as the difficulty in the work, it's more effort than skill. It seems like a big job, but it's really more of a just "follow the steps" kind of work...

Matt

 

If you drop the front sub make sure your MINI is as high as possible for ease of re and re-ing! I'd jack up the back way up too and put her on 4 jack stand/blocks.

It's easy to check your ball joints during this job with a good wiggle test! Good luck!

Jeremy

 

...or, just remove both axles and the LCA inner ball joint is accessible.

 

when I had 60-80 thousand miles on the car, I just replaced all the ball joints.... The parts are relatively cheap and when the sub is out it is an easy job.... Also, if your swapping them, you can go Godzilla on them to get them out without worrying about pinching the boots.....

Matt

 

5 lb sledge hammer = godzilla

 

Here's a photo that may be of help.

 

Hey kieth,

I'm not familiar with the R56, but it looks like the lower, outer ball joint slides into the control arm and is held in place by 2-3 bolts...if so, a modified ball joint design would make a great camber adjuster...while also affecting track and a few other things...axle articulation...

 

It seems to be a relatively easy job to drop the subframe in ones driveway - has anyone tried to replace the stock Bushings with poly ones? What kind of headaches would this bring?

 

Search function thy friend be...

In a nutshell: Yes. Personally, many times (3 w/ 3-4 more pending). Headaches? Depends on who you ask. IMO, the biggest headache may be maintenance as you may need to clean and regrease depending on driving conditions, which requires some disassembly.