Replacing a front wishbone or control arm on a BMW 3 series E46. A 2001 BMW 320 in this video. To ask questions about this job and get news about upcoming videos, join us over at www.diycarguide.com today.
This is the only guide I've seen where someone got to the 21mm nut from the top. On my 330 you can even see the hole in the engine mount for access and no one seems to notice. Top job.
On my 325 the hole is visible like your 330 since we share the M54 engine but there ain’t enough angle to get even a swivel extension bit through that at the correct angle to open the nut. Ps that 21mm is 22mm on some cars too.
@@aqib2000I’ve got a 330d and struggling with this exact issue now. Got access to it with my wobbly extension just like in the video, but it keeps slipping and I don’t want to round the bolt. I’m fairly new to DIY car stuff. Any tips?
gotta do this on mine and with how the rest of the bolts are on it, it's most likely going to be an absolute nightmare, queue the swearing and losing sockets haha, cheers for the video.
Thanks for doing this vid, i have been umming n arring about doing it myself for a few months now, your simple clear instructions have made my mind up to do it.. cheers ;o)
Any top tips on how to get the outer balljoint off? The one at 1 min 30. I have tried heat via a small oxy/mapp torch, detroyed the boots with 2 types of balljoint forks and a massive sledgehammer, with the arb out of the way. I also tried one of the screw up balljoint splitters and failed, all my penetrating fluids, putting the nut on a bit and hammering down on it, and also knocking the side of it. Everything i know apart from getting a larger torch in to heat the area better. I am really stuck! Any ideas? The other side came off easy!
I ended up taking off the whole control arm while attached to the hub, taking the hub off too. It is still fused together, no matter how hard i hit the sererator fork. I was changing the hubs anyway do that was what i wanted off, but also put back with a th. The control arm needs the inner balljoint removed,as well as the rear bearing.
Nathan Campbell Nathan I found that my worn wishbone balljoint (the one that connects to subframe) would move up and down when I shook the hub at 9 and 3 o clock. When I did it on the other side, it did not move at all. The symptoms while driving would be jarring bumps, and I believe some like instability when hitting bumps. take your wheel off and try my test to see if that balljoint is bad,m. Not sure about symptoms of ball joint that connects to hub carrier.
i've read on some forum that you have to torque the bushings when the car is under its own weight, is that true? or when you jacked up the wishbone to final torque it its the same thing as tightening it under the own weight of the car
You will see on the driver side that you cannot reach the middle ball joint nut due to the engine mount being in the way. However you can go through the engine compartment with a ratchet, extension and universal. comes out very easy.
I was supplied a replacement outer ball joint for the control arm. Is it replaceable with press as it looks like every video is about replacing the whole assembly.
Would it be easier to remove the motor to get to the bolts ? My husband thinks I have no Idea about cars so I would like to prove him wrong. Also would painting the wishbones pink before fitment interfere with the working of said components ?
