Mitsubishi Delica Owners Club UK™

[jejoenje]

So, at the stage of having to undo the taper on the upper ball joint on my L300.
Following Mystery Machine's excellent guide.
Castellated nut is loose and still attached to the end of the thread.
Also undid the shock from the bottom arm, just in case.

Was hoping to avoid pickleforks or suchlike.

Now, I am not a violent man. However, even after a lot (A LOT) of hard bashing of the top end of the steering knuckle, the little *****r still hasn't dropped.
There is movement in the ball joint when bashing it (sideways!), but it hasn't moved down the thread one bit.

Am I going mental/being a wimp/doing something wrong??

Is the torsion bar actually pushing the upper arm down too far? Should I loosen the bar tensioners? Should I take the stabiliser bar off the bottom arm?
_________________
1992 L300 Exceed "Selma"

[Google]

[Lewis]

Assuming the vehicle is jacked up, so that the lower wishbone is pushing upwards, try this method

With a 4lb lump hammer in each hand, hit the casting from both sides at the same time. That normally makes it pop off.

HTH
_________________


Copyright is retained for all my photos. Please don't copy them without asking permission
Do not blindly go where the path may lead you. Go where there is no path and leave a trail that others may follow!
ルイス

[jejoenje]

[Lewis]

  Typo on my part, fingers not going as fast as my eyeballs.  

Between 'is' and 'pushed' insert 'not'.  

Rather than mess with the torsion bar, which would then require realigning with a laser setup, insert a bottle jack between the top and bottom wishbones to push them apart.

See this photo:- https://app.box.com/s/gm4ownnl8f99lxlj7ll5ym57br1gcfzm
_________________


Copyright is retained for all my photos. Please don't copy them without asking permission
Do not blindly go where the path may lead you. Go where there is no path and leave a trail that others may follow!
ルイス

[jejoenje]

okidoke! I did wonder about that, too. Will have a go. Thanks again!
_________________
1992 L300 Exceed "Selma"

[andyman]

I am a convert to the fork-and-screw type of ball joint extractor. Having put the fork over the rubber gaiter, between the upper wishbone and hub-carrier casting, and tightened the bolt onto the end of the (loosened) nut and taper thread to a good force, if you can get the hammer in, smack the end of the extractor bolt, and the side of the eye around the taper. A loud bang, with movement, announces the taper is freed.
_________________
Andy C L300 Super Exceed - over 100 smiles per gallon!

[jejoenje]

So, turns out I wasn't such a wimp after all.

Success- in the end I took the torsion bar off and also disconnected the sway bar from the bottom arm. With only a bit of a tap the upper joint came out quite easy. In the end I decided it wouldn't matter as I will need an alignment after all of this anyway.

I decided to go to town and just take off the entire hub and knuckle - might as well and it made disconnecting the lower ball joint a whole lot easier.
Now it's on to sourcing new ball joints and deciding whether I need new wheel bearings, too. And cv boots. And steering rack boots...  

Fun to see how everything fits together!

Thanks all for the advice!
_________________
1992 L300 Exceed "Selma"

[andyman]

Total respect for your efforts and achievements. I still haven't fitted my replacement alternator!
_________________
Andy C L300 Super Exceed - over 100 smiles per gallon!

[Lewis]

👍
_________________


Copyright is retained for all my photos. Please don't copy them without asking permission
Do not blindly go where the path may lead you. Go where there is no path and leave a trail that others may follow!
ルイス