In good company!

[puddlesurfer]

My Surf failed it's MOT today too!

N/S bottom ball Joint ****ed, Top ball joint on it's way but not a failure - going to change it anyway!

Now all I need is Dixie.t's ball joint splitter, torque wrench, manuals and my grease gun back! And possibly a few hours of his time! and a big hammer!

[adpsimpson]

It's not a hard job, but might take a couple of hours. Don't worry about the manual, it tells you to dismantle the whole thing, including taking off the steering knuckle, which is unnecessary.

Goes something like: Jack and support chassis on axle stands, remove wheel, remove ARB and shock absorber from the wishbones, then loosen the nuts from the joint ends and remove the retaining nuts from the ball joints. Now jack up only the upper wishbone and the two wishbones should come apart, with the ball joints attached to the steering knuckle.

This is where you use the ball joint remover (I'd say don't even bother trying the hammer method, a semi decent remover is only about £20), pop them out and stick the new ones in.

When removing the old ball joints, leave the retaining nut on loosely so it doesn't fly across the garage and concuss you/break a window/chip your paintwork etc.

Did I miss anything?