Replacing front uppper ball joints

[94Griff500]

Seems as though this is a pretty straight forward process, but before I get into it, are these the steps to remove old and replace w/new upper ball joints ( which I already purchased ):

1. Remove wheel
2. Remove tie rod end from front hub
3. Remove upper ball joint bolts (4)
4. Swing out the top of the front hub to get at the nut holding the ball joint to the hub
5. remove the nut from the old upper ball joint
6. Use a tie rod fork to loosen and then remove the old upper ball joint
7. reassemble in reverse using new upper ball joint.
8. front end realignment

Am I missing anything before I get into doing this?

While I'm in there, I'll also pull the upper control arm off ( 2 bolts ) and check the upper control arm bushings for wear...especially the rear bushing as it sits immed below the exhaust header.

Any advice is appreciated!
Doug

[PabloGee]

You've got it right.
As long as it's not all rusted together, it's an easy job.
Make sure you put the spacer(s) back as you found it into the wishbone - the earlier cars had a spacer either side, then they went to one bigger one positioned towards the front of the car.

[Belle427]

A recent video i watched, made hard work of it for a Tvr specialist but heat it and beat it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdowLd1XOQU&t=...

[scottliv]

You can set the camber easily with a digital inclinometer. Use a steel bar across the wheel with it on the ground. Once you know the adjustment you can do it with the brake disc clamped. Then recheck with the wheels on. But of trial and error - but hopefully you get the idea

[94Griff500]

Excellent tool to use as I've only changed the camber by replacing control arm bushings, or upper & lower ball joints, so that inexpensive tool should work fine to get correct camber. The toe-in wasn't changed from the last alignment a few years ago with minimal added mileage.
Thxs!

[scottliv]

I zero it on the chassis horizontal bar then the camber is then relative to that.

[PabloGee]

Make sure you're on truly flat ground for that, and when you're done, you can take it to any Kwik Fit or Tyre Pros for a free geo measurement on their Hunter laser machine.
I did this a few times over and got my geo spot on.

[spitfire4v8]

Belle427 said:

A recent video i watched, made hard work of it for a Tvr specialist but heat it and beat it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdowLd1XOQU&t=...

Lmao .. nice to see Steve still calls them eric and ernie bushes, I came up with that when I worked at HHC to differentiate between the 2 types of bush hearing that made me smile !

[94Griff500]

To Spitfire4v8:

What was the difference between the 2 bushings ( Eric vs Ernie) ??

Also, Nice to see your comments on Pistonheads!
You had serviced my 94 Griff 500 multiple times after I bought it in the Netherlands and before I had it shipped to me in USA.
I think you swapped my original purple valve covers for a black pair you had back then.
My son (in Nottingham, UK ) still has my yellow v8 powered 5 speed '75 2500M

Doug