Lower Control Arm Replacement

[fly300kts]

I need to thank the Crew at 034 Motorsport since they were able to split a kit and sell me only the lower control arms (I have the Sterns on top).
These have stiffer bushing and going to install them in few days. I'll post a shot DIY



The DIY

The process is pretty straight forward
1 hour per side

Tools

2 x 18mm wrenches
10mm wrench
Hydraulic floor jack
Ball joint separator

FRONT ARM

1/ Disconnect auto-leveling clamp if installed
2/ Lift the forward arm with the floor jack few inches to release the sway link pressure. Remove the upper bolt of the linkage
3/ Remove the shock bottom bolt
4/ With the ball joint separator, free the arm from the hub.



DON’T EVEN THINK STARTING THIS JOB WITHOUT THE SEPARATOR!!!

Got mine from Harbor Freight ($10) but I had to enlarge the fork because the cutout was too small for the pivot cone widht. When it releases, it sounds like a shot gun!



5/ Using the 18mm wrenches, remove the inner bolt. Replace the arm

REAR ARM

1/ with the ball joint separator, free the arm from the hub.
2/ Using the 18mm wrenches, remove the inner bolt



You will not be able to slide out completely the inner bolt with removing the 10mm plastic nut holding the cover. Remove the nut and bent down enough the plastic cover to make room and slide out the bolt.



Clean and you are done





Let me know if any question

Phil

[Leo14]

Nice! Can't wait for the DIY

[beantown]

Nice addition Phil...subscribed.

[euroazfck]

I'll subScribe!

[fly300kts]

DIY Posted

Phil

[elwigglero]

You had adjustable uppers before right? Did you feel a big difference when upgrading the lower arms w/ stiffer bushings?

[fly300kts]

You had adjustable uppers before right? Did you feel a big difference when upgrading the lower arms w/ stiffer bushings?

Definitively and even if still good at 95000 miles, the larger bushings were totally distorded

Phil

[Philthy]

Replacing all my arms tomorrow. Anyone happen to have the torque specs and do these need to be loaded like the uppers?

[mr larry]

Replacing all my arms tomorrow. Anyone happen to have the torque specs and do these need to be loaded like the uppers?

Bump for loading question x2

[bombermon]

Mine seized and I had to take off the spindle and get the arms pressed out

[Kodymfk]

Going to do this tomorrow, how much surface did you have to remove from the tool to make it work?

Definitively and even if still good at 95000 miles, the larger bushings were totally distorded

Phil

[rs6]

Going to do this tomorrow, how much surface did you have to remove from the tool to make it work?

Not much, maybe only 1 mm on the insides of the "fork."

[squeegy200]

I'll be doing this very soon as well.
Just ordered the entire upper and lower control arm kit with tie rod ends this week. Also ordered the ball joint separator tool from harbor freight. Thank you for the detailed information and illustrations. They will be very useful when I tackle this job

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[needmovies]

I just did mine yesterday and I just want to say thanks to the OP for this guide. I also want to add some tips in case anyone's interested:

- removing the sway bar from the mounting bracket helped a lot in getting the front arm in and out
- I removed front arm first, ball joint side then the inner side. I then removed the rear arm, also ball joint then inner side
- When installing, it was way easier to do the front arm first while the rear arm was still detached. it was a PITA to align the inner bolts for the front arm, it made it way easier when I had the rear arm off since I can move the knuckle/hub around without the rear arm countering the movement
- when installing, I did front ball joint, front inner bolts, rear inner bolts, rear ball joint
- as per ELSA, they have to be torque at curb weight (loaded suspension)

[squeegy200]

This thread was extremely helpful. Much appreciation and thanks! You guys must be super fast, it took me about five hours. I did also replace a drive shaft while replacing the lower control arms. But I must work significantly slower than most.

I did use the harbor freight ball joint separator. It is a must for this task. And it does sound like a shotgun when the ball joints let loose! Thanks again! Great write up!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[fly300kts]

This thread was extremely helpful. Much appreciation and thanks! You guys must be super fast, it took me about five hours. I did also replace a drive shaft while replacing the lower control arms. But I must work significantly slower than most.

I did use the harbor freight ball joint separator. It is a must for this task. And it does sound like a shotgun when the ball joints let loose! Thanks again! Great write up!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Your welcome

Phil

[papadelogan]

Is there a reference available for the torque values for each bolt/nut/fastener?

[Avant4me]

Found the values

From Bentley manual:



1- 75nm
5- 7nm
7- 45nm
8- 40nm
12- 70nm +180
14- 110nm
17- 10nm
20- 90nm
22- 55nm
23- 110nm +90
24- 40nm +90
26- 40nm +90
28- 70nm +180
29- 75nm
37- 50nm +90
38- 50nm

[AndyCastellini]

How do you get the inner bolt for the rear arm out on the passenger side

[Avant4me]

Take the plastic cover off the bottom of the car and it will slide out. You only need to undo the front of the cover in order to pop it down enough

[feeley80]

I had a real battle with this one. I didn't realize there was a sleeve in the spindle for the rear lower control arm, so when i took the old one out the sleeve went with it. I was dumbfounded and about to scrap the whole project because the old part and the new part didn't look the same at the ball joint side. Thankfully a buddy of mine came to the rescue. We popped the sleeve off of the old ball joint, pounded it back into the spindle and the new arm went on without and issue. I became best friends with my breaker bar on this one.
Side note: get a ratcheting 18mm wrench for this one if you don't already have on. http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/g...rm=18mm+wrench

[FraggyA4]

I had a real battle with this one. I didn't realize there was a sleeve in the spindle for the rear lower control arm, so when i took the old one out the sleeve went with it. I was dumbfounded and about to scrap the whole project because the old part and the new part didn't look the same at the ball joint side. Thankfully a buddy of mine came to the rescue. We popped the sleeve off of the old ball joint, pounded it back into the spindle and the new arm went on without and issue. I became best friends with my breaker bar on this one.
Side note: get a ratcheting 18mm wrench for this one if you don't already have on. http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/g...rm=18mm+wrench

Yeah to prevent this you could of used the ball joint tool that Fly has post on the first page. It holds the bushing in while you press out the ball joint.

[feeley80]

haha, I bought it the day of my last post. Good advice: "Do not start this project without the ball joint remover."

[FraggyA4]

haha, I bought it the day of my last post. Good advice: "Do not start this project without the ball joint remover."

Yeah mine never would of came out with the forks. They came off with explosive force. I had to modify mine though to make it work. I ended up grinding flat the part that presses on the bolt part.

[kendo36]

Yes I got that far. Issue is I think there's a sleeve that also site in the hole where the ball joint goes up through.

[caliizaktiv]

I'm going to add to this with regards to the Passenger Curved Lower Control Arm and my experience with my B6 S4

Full Write-up here http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...5#post10671735

[mosnet99]

Sorry to revive this thread, but what would happen if the suspension is not loaded when you torque the bolts down?

[Avant4me]

Sorry to revive this thread, but what would happen if the suspension is not loaded when you torque the bolts down?

You'll wear out your control arm bushings much quicker

[mosnet99]

You'll wear out your control arm bushings much quicker

We're not talking 100 miles quicker, right?

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

[Avant4me]

Many variables and depends on what angle you tightened the arms down at relative to where they should be.

If they are pretty close to where they need to be then probably not much faster all else equal.

If they are reasonably off then all else being equal it could be months or years earlier.

[i3oricua]

Sorry to revive this thread, but what would happen if the suspension is not loaded when you torque the bolts down?

I'll tell you what will happen from experience. They'll be noisy and you'll drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out. There is the potential to prematurely wear out the bushings but its slim. After a few thousand miles I finally torqued them down under load and made all my creaking and squeaking go away.

[redbat]

Quick question - I ordered replacement lower control arms from FCP Euro. The part number was DEL-TC1179 (Delphi part). The box I received had ONE of those and one that is almost exactly the same but with the part number TJ43K. They look the same EXCEPT that the hole for the swaybar link bolt in the DEL-TC1179 part is OFF-CENTER, while the other part has that hole centered.

So the question: are these parts supposed to be identical, or did I get a dud? It's off-center by a millimeter or 2 - enough that I don't want to put it on my car without confirmation that it's supposed to be off-center.

[fly300kts]

Should be centered

Phil

[redbat]

Thanks, Phil!

[phatjames167]

How did you enlarge the fork on the separator? I plan on buying the one from HF also.

[mr larry]

How did you enlarge the fork on the separator? I plan on buying the one from HF also.

I ground mine a bit with a dremel

[MattboyR32]

Since i'm a complete donkey I want to prevent others out there that attempt this to avoid the dumbass fooked up way I went about it...

Ok so I bought this.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Which is all well and good, but as mentioned above, some modifications are needed. Get out a metal file and shave the inner parts of the fork. It doesn't need to be widened much, but do it before attempting and re-attempting and re-attempting expecting it to work.

So as you probably gathered, the separator I bought kept slipping off, more like firing off. I'm looking at this thing and it goes in far enough. Unfortunately in my fooked up head I thought it was simply that it wasn't in far enough. Well what was happening is that the piece that is pushing up on the joint itself was slipping off because of the angle. After getting 3 out of 4 off with much swearing and scratching of head. I finally broke out the fookin drill and drilled a wide shallow hole in the flat piece that way it has something to grip onto and you are not going to fuck up your threads like I have done. All 4 threads are fooked.

Take a note lads.

[aluthman]

The Harbor Freight tool has an indentation there out of the box. You just got one that has less features than a Harbor Freight tool lol.

[MattboyR32]

yup and cost more! lol

[Dondbg]

Guys.

My B7 tie road end / front ball arm joint are: 16MM or 20MM ? I've been googling and am I right to say they are 16mm....

Anyone here used kraft automotive parts ? The price fits budget and purpose.

http://www.kraft-automotive.com/#home-27

Want to make sure below fits before I hit buy now.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/182107623285

Thanks.


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Audi A4 B7 avant 2.0T Tip Quattro 2008