Ball Joint replacement, '93 940

I'm crossing this to the Toyota groups because there are a lot of
knowledgable people there who help me with my Toys. I'm assuming this is
kind of a generic question.

A friend of mine has a '93 ('94?) Volvo 940 Sedan. It failed inspection
due to a ball joint failure. He asked if I could give him a hand with it,
but I have never done a ball joint before.

He says he has the tool (looks like a fork) and a Haynes manual. I am
going to take a look at the manual so I at least have an idea of what I'm
doing.

So, I'm looking for information, both generic to ball joints and anything
specific to the 940 that I may need to know. I am thinking Moog parts
might be the best way to go for cost/quality. Anything I need to know, or
should I just direct him to a shop that can do it faster than I?

I'm not *too* dangerous with a screwdriver, and I do a fair amount of my
own work on my Toys and a Mazda I have.

Any help greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

I'm not sure on a Volvo what the suspension design is, but just be
careful of any suspension spring removal. Make sure you have it securely
on stands or a hoist, you can't do this job on ramps. If it is a strut
design, just remove the strut as a unit. If it has torsion bars, unload
the front end suspension (by raising the vehicle) before you remove the
torsion bar fasteners. Basically, unbolt the top of the joint from the
spindle (castle nut with cotter pin), and the bottom is probably riveted
in. If the ball joints are riveted in, grind the rivet heads off and
then bolt the new ones in. The fork bar is usually for stubborn tie rod
ends, and for ball joints. I use one on the end of an air tool, so if
you use the arm strong/hammer powered one, be careful. Use a torch on
the spindle ball joint area to heat it moderately if it's really
stubborn. The Haynes manual you mentioned will probably have all the
particulars to that vehicle. We have had good luck with Moog parts. Have
fun and be careful Hachi.

 

If you look at any ball-joint you'll see a tapered pin on one end, and a
housing on the other. The tapered pin turns or rocks in the lower housing.
Removing the old BJ consists of undoing the housing attachment technique
which maybe small nuts and bolts, rivets (grind or chisel off and replace
with nuts and bolts) or in rare cases the housing screws into the arm on the
car. This is the easy bit. The difficult bit is getting the old BJ's tapered
pin to drop out of tapered hole in the car's suspension. The fork you
mentioned is *one* way to do this. Remember however, once the fork is used
to drive a wedge between arm and the old BJ so the tapered pin drops out,
the old BJ will be damaged.
The most common way to get the taper to release, is to apply "pulling apart"
pressure using a jack and piece of wood, then hitting the tapered fitting
(which the BJ tapered peg is in) from both sides using equal force. This
causes the arm to "spring" thus allowing the old tapered pin to drop out. If
this is not successful,..drive the fork in to add more persuasion,..then hit
the peg-housing again. 9 times out of 10 that will do the trick.

Jason

 

Thanks!

I think he's taking it to a mechanic, so I'm off the hook, but this is
good to know, and gets filed for future reference!