tough time with control arm
 

I am finally getting around to doing those control arms i bent hitting that curb. They were coming out flawlessly, until they did not want to slide out of the thing that the caliper attaches onto (the end seen at the right of the picture:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...4/DSC01660.jpg

I loosened the bolt (it would not fully come out because stuff is in the way), but i kept prying at the control arm to come off, but it would not budge. It's like it's glued into that piece. Of you have done this, is there maybe a special trick to doing this? The bentley manual just shows you what to unscrew and expects the control arm to "magically" slide out. I chcked the paperwork on the car, and both control arms have been changed in 2005, and it was dont at the dealership, so I doubt it was crazy-glued on there.

If you can't fix it with a sedge hammer, it ain't meant to be fixed.


http://www.firesafetyusa.com/cart/im...dge-hammer.jpg


That was a joke, please don't go try it.

breaking loose the outer ball joint is the hardest part of this job

these easiest solution i've found is to...

go to autozone and rent out their tie-rod end puller, it's a small puller type press, it just happens to fit almost perfectly and allows you to push the outer ball joint out of the hub,

here's a picture of what you should pick up

http://www.autozone.com/images/in_ou...zed/27022L.jpg

using it on the car is pretty self-explanatory

but if you need further guidance, just let me know

Yup, I've done this, had exactly the same prob. I fixed it the wrong way because I was impatient <-- (bad attitude).

I first sprayed all round the bolt with penetrating oil (did nothing). I then used a rubber mallet and with medium power kept tapping the circled area downwards. It eventually popped right out.

http://files.unitedbimmer.com/ub.c/S...e/DSC01660.jpg

I'm not saying you should do it this way, as Shaha's method seems safer, I'm just saying it works and caused no damage. If you attempt it this way, make sure this is the first bolt on the control arm you undo. Otherwise the suspension assembly won't be rigid enough and will wobble about.

2 years later...it's still perfect.

Good luck!

yeah the banging way takes forever, i've banged away for hours before, the way i talked about takes a couple turns of a wrench, trust me on this, and safe yourself the headache

thanks shabab! it definetely seems like it will work. and yeah, i already tried banging it and prying on it with all kinds of bars (seen in bottom of illustration). i guess ill go down to auto value and pick up one of those tools to save myself a headache.

By the way, apparently on m3's the stabilizer bar attaches right to the strut. If i am already getting new struts, do you think it might be worth it to get the m3 struts as well as an mt stabilizer arm? Would it even work?

...wow surpises no one has said this yet.

Lift the arm off of the shocks weight. I guess the only way would be with the rotor? I know when i was removing my tie rods in lifted the assembly with a jack via the control arm to loosen the tension on the tie rod. Couldnt you do the same with the control arm? Im sure the ball joint isnt designed to come out at that angle?

when i did it, i used the baning method, actually i was at a shop, and i was banging at it, and my friend the mechanic goes, man you hit that like a girl, watch out, and he hits it twice and plunk, it comes right out.. haha

what you're saying isn't necessary but I should have said this, remove the inner ball joint first if possible, then use that tie-rod puller

lucky! lol

yea my mechanic uses a a mallet and a hammer. Gotta love it. He also has some duct tape handy all the time