Replacement: Lower right control arm

Plan to book my car in next week to get the lower right control arm replaced (play in ball joint).

How long does this procedure take to complete?

 

1-1.5hours start to finish in my driveway with basic tools.

 

Make sure its not a tie rod assembley ...
Pity I have two front control arms sitting in my driveway ... Took RPW about 20 mins with the right tools

 

Hmm, sounds good ok... I can't really do it myself because:

1. Do not have the spare part
2. Do not have wide enough variety of tools (very few)
3. Haven't ever done this before. Whilst I'm sure I could given instruction, I'd be reluctant to attempt this myself in case I wreck something (paranoid)

So Paul did you come right with that issue of yours? Did it sort the vibration under braking out?

Mine has that problem too which I am hoping is related to my ball joint issue.

 

Nope the brakes were due to a warped disk ... So I replaced the disks with Slotted Rotors ...
Just get them to check the Tie Rod end joint before they replace ur ball joints. Its alot cheaper to fix and could be the cause of ur problem.

 

I'll be sure to check that first - thanks. Next problem will be my "leaking" steering rack. I'd like to see just what they call a leak because I have been monitoring the level of my power/steer fluid and it has not changed.

It could probably use changing though as it looks like it's past due...

 

Ive just noticed after jacking up my car that the front driver side wheel seems a bit loose - theres a few millemetres of freeplay - the other wheel does not move.

How can I tell if this is just the ball joint or something worse?
Is it safe to drive on for a few days until the car gets serviced?

 

Ur best to go to a suspension or performance workshop, ask them to hoist it up and check if there is any play in the tierod assembly ... (hopefully its there as they are cheap to get hold of compared to the ball joints as they are attached to the arms)

 

It could even be just a loose tierod-end adjustment bolt - as Paul said, take it to a tyre place and they should be able to diagnose it within minutes

 

I don't think the tierod end is adjustable ... I just "altered" mine to make it fit better ...

 

The tierod end assembly threads onto the end of the steering rack and is held in place by an opposed nut that tightens against it. Its how you adjust toe-in.

 

But thats not where the problem was on mine .. the tierod assembly has like a ball in a cup sort of setup and the ball part was moving within the cup. That can't be adjusted.

 

could be a wheel bearing by the sounds of it, jack it up, place hands at 6 & 12 o clock on wheel , and wiggle, note any movement at all, now place hands at 9 & 3 o clock and wiggle, if you feel movement at both these noted spots, it would appear to be a worn wheel bearing...Fred.

 

pretty certain it was wobbling when hands were placed 9 and 3, but not at 6 and 12. So I guess that means it isnt the wheel bearing?

 

i had these replaced free of charge under the Mitsubishi recall

 

I was told Mitsubishi Ausatralia won't honour the recalls ... pretty stupid for mitsubishi if one of those things goes wrong ...

 

we get all the outstanding recalls carried out in the UK should be the same in aus

 

Is there a list of recalled defective parts for these cars somewhere?

 

Yep put your chassis number in to the box and then use bablefish to translate.
http://recall.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/Recall/resultrecallstatus.do

 

don't use babelfish first, then translate from inside babelfish, it just won't work!