E36 compact

[adit]

i took one for the MOT the other day and it failed on a couple of things including both bottom swivels.
as the owner intends to keep the car, i bought complete wishbones + new rear bushes.
attempting to remove the old wishbones today, i started to turn the air blue
i loosened the nut on top of the swivels ok, but would it come off?
would it "heck as like" (or whatever it is those Northern people say)!!
the nut unscrewed so far up, then hits the bracket on the strut, what a bloody stupid design that is
so i then separated the joint and the nut dropped down, but of course, then the nut and thread turned as one. i put some resistance underneath the bottom swivel again, but of course, then had not enough clearance to remove the nut
i tried every which way to get it off.
i ended up having to hacksaw through the thread in order for it to drop down so that i could remove the wishbone.
very clever BMW, thanks for that

[bss325i]

Don't give up your day job!

[adit]

well i certainly wouldn't let any of those dealership technicians loose on it!

[bss325i]

Never ever had a problem undoing an E36 bottom ball joint nut.

[e30topless]

[adit]

as i said, undoing it wasn't the problem. having sufficient clearance between the top of the thread and the bracket was the tricky bit

[bss325i]

You don't need any extra clearance!

[rix313]

Blow torch to melt the nylon

[johnl320]

Taller, non OEM nut maybe?

[adit]

well obviously i completely made this up for something to say
trust me, there was not clearance for the nut to come off, it was a couple of threads away from coming off, but was hard up against the leg bracket before separating the joint.
i had to unbolt the leg from the hub on the other side, god those bolts were tight! (they were just too tight on the first side, hence the hacksaw job).
yes, you may be right John.

[pacerpete]

Adi, the move is to wire brush the thread, lots of lube and then undo the nut until it touches the strut body, THEN you get the balljoint splitter and the foook off big hammer and when the balljoint has popped, leave the splitter in situ and lever on it forcing the arm down while undoing the nut. Touch wood, this has always worked for me.
Due to the amount of these I do , I have the tool to remove and refit the balljoints in situ , I use the Meyle heavy duty E30 style balljoints and E36 M3 concentric bushes, £50 in bits and the job is then jobbed
Using standard replacement balljoints/bushes means you will be doing the same job again 2/3 years down the road

[bss325i]

I'm not saying you are making anything up. What i said was you don't need any extra clearance!

First of all, wire brush the exposed thread then spray with lube. Undo the anti roll bar drop link nut from the wish bone, unwind nut until it touches the bottom of the strut.

At this point the ball joint nut is only wound onto the ball joint by a couple of threads so should only be finger tight.

strike the knuckle so the ball joint taper unsticks and drops down then wind the nut off by hand.

[Jhonno]

Peter has it nailed.. Your technique is all wrong Adit..

[adit]

thanks Pete.
there was no way to get in there with a wire brush on this car. i did like you suggest, i WD40d the thread, then undone the nut as far as i could, as well as the drop-link, before splitting the joint, but then the nut just wouldn't wind round on it's own. i had a big crowbar pushing down on the wishbone too.
i've done loads before without too much grief, but there's always one...and this was it!!

i guess rolling around outside in the cold, on gravel, with my Halfords professional tools, as opposed to a nice, cosy, centrally heated, polished-floor workshop with ramps and the best and most appropriate tools money can buy didn't exactly put me at an advantage

[bss325i]

You don't need any of that shit to get one of these off so none of that comes into it!

How could you not get a wire brush in there? How big is you wire brush?!

[adit]

the normal sized one (i didn't have one of those tiny ones brassy bristle ones), but with half of the front bristles missing, so rather awkward to get into the correct position. i think i need to hacksaw the front half of the brush off!

[bss325i]

Forget the tooth brush sized ones or the big wooden handled ones, you need one of these.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEAVY-DUTY-HA ... 915wt_1270

[adit]

ah, thanks Baz, i haven't seen them in the 99p shop, but cheap enough, i'll get one
in case your link wasn't working, for others:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEAVY-DUTY-HA ... 4ab1d43717

this is what i was struggling with, with the front half of it having almost no wires left (picture Rav's head and you'll get the idea):

[Alex]

i'am breaking an e30 compact if you need any e36 shite

[adit]

i'am breaking an e30 compact if you need any e36 shite

e30 compact? you want to keep hold of that Alex, it sounds unique

i'll pass it on mate, thanks

[Alex]

i'am breaking an e30 compact if you need any e36 shite

e30 compact? you want to keep hold of that Alex, it sounds unique

i'll pass it on mate, thanks

You get used to saying e30