Wishbone Replacement - A picture diary

[AceOfHearts]

I am spending this weekend replacing the front wishbones on my car, and have had a request on facebook to write up a basic 'how to' style guide so that he knows what is involved when he comes to tackle to job himself. The order of tasks may differ but it doesn't matter a great deal. This is just the way I did it so others may have different opinions.

So first things first, get the car up in the air and the wheel off (thankfully I have access to the workshop at work for this job)



This is what you will be greeted by:



Undo the track rod end nut, and clout the side of the mount to break the taper. Do NOT hit down on the threads!



Remove the caliper (2 x 17mm bolts) and secure it out of the way so it is not hanging on the brake line. Remove the disc



Remove the two upper balljoint 'camber adjustment' bolts to free the top of the hub. Don't lose the caster spacer. This goes in FRONT of the balljoint.

Remove the 3 x bottom balljoint bolts (13mm) and tap the hub upwards slightly to free it up if needs be.





Remove the anti roll bar drop link and shock absorber. The lower shock bolt is awkward to access so take your time.



Now *all* you have to do is remove the 4 x wishbone to chassis bolts. On my car the rear lower bolt was totally seized into the centre on the bush, meaning that I had to chop it out with an angle grinder. Easy to do as long as you don't mind damaging the old wishbone.





Old Vs New



And as with all good guides, refit is the reverse of removal

On reassembly its good practice to hold the wishbones up to their normal operating angle before tightening the bolts, so as not to put any unnecessary forces on the the bushes. As this point I also put a basic camber gauge of the hub to set the camber at roughly 1 degree (I will be driving it straight for a full alignment after the work is complete)



All done



Some extra points to add:
-I used this opportunity to clean up and paint the hub / steering shaft and track rod
-Some cars may have the brake hose running through a grommeted hole on the back of the hub. Mine has a slot in it so I can remove the hose from the hub without having to disconnect it from the caliper.
-Polybushes should not be used in the top wishbone, it is too close to the exhaust and they are not good with heat (I made this mistake the first time round many years ago)

Anything i've missed?

Edited by AceOfHearts on Saturday 28th March 19:33

[V8fan]

Very comprehensive. But may I say there is a bit of a Haynes manual-like suggestion that you 'just undo' nuts.

When I changed the same on my Chimaera, both front bottom ball joints were basically seized into the lower suspension arms. No way they would come out in situ as you managed. Undoing the top balljoint to hub nut needed a very long bar and some heat to undo as well!

Also, replacing the balljoints themselves is something that may as well be done at the same time for what they cost.

I'm unsure why now (it was over 2 years ago!), but I ended up disconnecting and removing the calipers for some reason as well. It may have had something to do with the routing of the brake lines.

[AceOfHearts]

Yes I will admit it does make it sound quite easy on paper , but with cleaning up and painting the hubs etc (and taking my time) I only got one side done today.

Most of mine did come apart quite easily, only 2 seized bolts that succumbed to the angle grinder in short order. The last time I had it apart was about 10 years ago when I had all the wishbones powdercoated and polybushed, so they have not lasted too badly.

I will admit in investing in a Dewalt battery impact gun a few years ago that is an absolute life saver for most car jobs.

Edited by AceOfHearts on Saturday 28th March 22:23

[Belle427]

I always add anti seize to the bolts, it does make a difference come disassembly time, especially in a TVR !

[Paulprior]

If it’s a write up for someone intending to have a go it might be worthwhile explains the different bush options and the work needed to install if staying standard, if the intent was to do everything in one go then maybe a new set of bolts would be useful, certainly well greased

[s3c chris]

Hi.

A silly question maybe but where do the tubular wishbones come from?
They look a much neater product than the originals and I would think they are stronger too.

Also, can you not fit heat shields to safeguard the upper poly bushes from the exhaust?

Thanks, Chris.

[AceOfHearts]

s3c chris said:

Hi.

A silly question maybe but where do the tubular wishbones come from?
They look a much neater product than the originals and I would think they are stronger too.

Also, can you not fit heat shields to safeguard the upper poly bushes from the exhaust?

Thanks, Chris.

The wishbones were from Readman Racing, and I did have them wrapped in that silver backed fibreglass heat matting but it didn't help and just got cooked itself! Saying that though they have lasted a number of years

[phazed]

Nice job Lewis.

Got my wishbones from the same source at least 10 years ago. They were still going strong when I sold the car recently.

Mine were fitted with polybushes all round but with some reflective material wrapped around the top rear joint. Never had a problem.

[Tyre Tread]

AceOfHearts said:

The wishbones were from Readman Racing, and I did have them wrapped in that silver backed fibreglass heat matting but it didn't help and just got cooked itself! Saying that though they have lasted a number of years

A thank you from me for pointing me to Readman Racing for the wishbones as they seem to be getting scarce. Also they seem best value