Help! Right side lower control arm removal

[RUBBERDIPSTICK]

Help! When I was replacing my wheel bearings and damaged the boots on my lower ball joints. Long story short, I am trying to remove the lower control arms. The left side came out no problem. Right side not so much. The front bolt on the lower control arm hits the engine/oil pan before it can come out. I checked the manual and it tells you to remove a ton of stuff including the whole suspension crossmember! Thats crazy! Does anybody know of an easier way??


2007 sedan, 145,000 miles

[RUBBERDIPSTICK]

A little more background info:

I started out this project to replace the front wheel bearings. I bought some timken bearings and figured I would take the steering knuckles to a local machine shop for the press work. In order to remove the steering knuckles from the car, it is necessary to break the lower ball joint apart as well as the steering tierod ball joint. I did this with a 'pickle fork' which damaged the rubber boots on all the joints.

So, with the knuckles off the vehicle, I took them to the machine shop and had the bearings pressed in. Iwas expecting to be able to pick up a couple rubber boots for the ball joints and be good to go. Turns out nobody sells the boots, and nobody sells the joints either. The whole control arm is only sold as a unit.

I figure no problem, it's probably time to do this anyway.

But when I tried to remove the passenger side control arm, I got stuck. The front bolt will not come out because it hits the oil pan. Has anybody dealt with this???

[CoryM]

I don't recall exactly how much room there is, but I would see if you could pull the engine mount bolts and carefully jack up underneath the engine (use a rubber or wood block to keep from damaging anything). I'd guess you can get enough room that way, but not sure.

[Absolutely Red 12]

I can't help you with that specifically.
But for others doing this, the ball joint will separate with just a rap with a hammer, on the outside of the knuckle, where the ball joint stud goes through. Its not pressed, it's an interference fit. The vibration from the impact will loosen the stud.
Same goes for tie rod ends.

[Absolutely Red 12]

Now on to your problem, yes the whole ball joint is available, check Rock Auto. Moog makes them. $10 each.
They are clipped and pressed.
Remove the circlip.
You can then hammer them out, and rent a ball joint screw press to put them back in.
http://www.pavementsucks.com/techimg/balljoint09.jpg

[toyotavios_11]

i have the same problem to remove right hand side control arm bolt which is blocked by oil pan. can someone enlighten me?

[dogsridewith]

I can't help you with that specifically.
But for others doing this, the ball joint will separate with just a rap with a hammer, on the outside of the knuckle, where the ball joint stud goes through. Its not pressed, it's an interference fit. The vibration from the impact will loosen the stud.
Same goes for tie rod ends.
An old Chevy manual wants a big hammer head or something held against the opposite side of the knuckle before the hit. ("bucking" might be the word) Worked for me. Obviously lowers stress and bending going further through the system. Have seen mechanic just wail away w/ the hammer. (Not my current guy, who is the best.)
Today, I would probably have trouble holding the buck w/ one hand and swinging the hammer w/ the other. There may be a puller that won't hurt the boots like a pickle fork. (Pep Boys used to loan the whole tool kit for free w/ no charge on the credit card if the kit came back.)

[tmontague]

i have the same problem to remove right hand side control arm bolt which is blocked by oil pan. can someone enlighten me?

You need to jack up the engine slightly on the passenger side which will give you clearance to remove the through bolt from the control arm.

You will have to unbolt the passenger side motor mount to do this and use a block of wood under the oil pan when you jack it up

[Jason@SportsCar]

All we did was remove the trans dog bone (the mount that goes from the cross member to the trans), then you can rock the engine enough to get the control arm bolt out.

[toyotavios_11]

some say disconnect hydraulic mount, some day disconnect crossmember mount to jack up the engine. im so confused now..

[tmontague]

More than one way to peel a banana, pick your poison.

Jason's way sounds the easiest but the motor mount is also not too hard to do either
I'd recommend starting with Jason's way, simplest and most straight forward

[toyotavios_11]

More than one way to peel a banana, pick your poison.

Jason's way sounds the easiest but the motor mount is also not too hard to do either
I'd recommend starting with Jason's way, simplest and most straight forward
thanks for the guidance, thumbs up:thumbup:

[myfirstyota]

I had that problem during my 2zr swap. Put the engine back in before the control arm then couldn't get the control arm bolt in. I ended up lowering the subframe a bit. Backed the bolts out a bit on the left side and completely removed the right side bolts while supporting the subframe with a jack. That gave me enough room to get the front control arm bolt in. That was easy for me cause I already had the subframe out and knew the bolts wouldn't give me any problems.

[tmontague]

I had that problem during my 2zr swap. Put the engine back in before the control arm then couldn't get the control arm bolt in. I ended up lowering the subframe a bit. Backed the bolts out a bit on the left side and completely removed the right side bolts while supporting the subframe with a jack. That gave me enough room to get the front control arm bolt in. That was easy for me cause I already had the subframe out and knew the bolts wouldn't give me any problems.

Why did you remove the control arms for your swap?

[myfirstyota]

I removed just about everything for my swap. Im a lil odd that way lol.

I used a high mileage donor car. (Ill elaborate on that in my swap thread) Full and complete 2011 xD. Even drove it before I bought it. Anything that I thought could have been better built for the xD or was in better shape rust wise, was swapped over.

Thought i read somewhere the xd subframe was a bit stronger, it but looked identical to me. Either way, the xd subframe was was in better shape rust wise and it was swapped over aswell.

Almost everything that was reinstalled in the Yaris was hit with a wire wheel, rust converter and paint.

Only plan on this being my summer daily driver so no sense in putting rusty parts back in...my blue 3 door current daily driver... That's another story. I treat that car like a read headed stepchild. But I still maintain it. 285k and purrs like a kitten.

[tmontague]

I see, makes complete sense