lower control arm replacement on 55 plate Berlingo

[geoff]

Personally I'd not bother faffing around trying to keep the driveshafts in place and would just drop the gearbox oil first as last and then refill with synthetic oil, you are after all removing both wishbones / control arms so will have the access and it will be a lot easier in the long run.

[BingoBlingo]

Hi - did one like yours with the integral ball joint recently. Major snag was the front bolt was rusted/seized totally to the captive bolt (numbers 7 and 12 in the image here). May be worth soaking the thing in penetrating fluid/applying some heat/cool cycles before you start (we ended up cutting the bolt).

Only other thing is once the ball joint is off watch the driveshaft does not pull out of the gearbox if the hub moves/rotates outwards. No big deal as it just pops back in again but the gearbox oil on the floor annoys my missus 

Already had a drive shaft pop out once while doing previous work.  Thanks for reminding me or I might have done it again

In my experience (2005 2.0 Hdi) it is the LHS drive shaft that is at risk of popping out; the RHS shaft seems to be held in place.

[BingoBlingo]

When I did mine I bought a pair of drop links and just cut the old ones off rather than spend ages destroying them with a spanner. Otherwise it was quite a straight forward job as long as you have all the tools to do it.

I may be missing something here, but is it necessary to disconnect the drop links in order to change the suspension arms ?

My suspension arms are cast iron with integral ball-joints. I haven't yet removed a suspension arm but I recently withdrew the RHS ball-joint shank from the hub carrier without having to interfere with the drop links. If I had been intending to remove the arm, I would have also needed to remove the bolts at the front and rear suspension arm bushes, but I don't think it would have been necessary to touch the links.

Have I overlooked something ?

[jimbo]

When I did mine I bought a pair of drop links and just cut the old ones off rather than spend ages destroying them with a spanner. Otherwise it was quite a straight forward job as long as you have all the tools to do it.

I may be missing something here, but is it necessary to disconnect the drop links in order to change the suspension arms ?

My suspension arms are cast iron with integral ball-joints. I haven't yet removed a suspension arm but I recently withdrew the RHS ball-joint shank from the hub carrier without having to interfere with the drop links. If I had been intending to remove the arm, I would have also needed to remove the bolts at the front and rear suspension arm bushes, but I don't think it would have been necessary to touch the links.

Have I overlooked something ?

I had the same thoughts

[ffrenchie]

Sorry I'm getting mixed up with when I did the springs. I didn't have any problems doing the wishbones, mine are the solid cast ones (more expensive) but once done they should last another 90,000 miles hopefully.

[BingoBlingo]

Sorry I'm getting mixed up with when I did the springs. I didn't have any problems doing the wishbones, mine are the solid cast ones (more expensive) but once done they should last another 90,000 miles hopefully.

[BingoBlingo]

Hello, Thanks for clarifying that for me.
1. I'm still not sure whether I need to change the ball-joint. I've now done over 2,000 miles (albeit, rather carefully) since I discovered the cut in the boot, and cleaned up and re-greased the ball-joint before fitting a new boot. The ball-joint moves freely (more freely than a new ball-joint) but I don't detect any play when manually pulling on the shaft (when it had been removed from the hub carrier) or by attempting to rock the road wheel in the 6 / 12 position. Do ball-joints deteriorate gradually, or do they reach a certain point and fail catastrophically ?
2. I should explain that the suspension arm is relatively new, having been replaced three years ago; it is only the ball-joint that is a concern; both bushes still seem in 'as new' condition.
3. The split boot was not noted during the MoT test. Assuming that this was because the boot was satisfactory at the time of the Test, it would mean that at most I drove 150 miles with a split boot. I wonder if, because of the limited mileage, I have been lucky and avoided meaningful damage to the ball-joint ?
4. I am bewildered by the range of replacement suspension arms. They include Ultimate Styling at £31.30 (incl delivery), ECP (with one of their semi-permanent discounts) at about £45, and local Citroen dealer at about £70 (after-market) or £140 for (OEM). Does anybody have experience of the cheaper parts ?

[geoff]

Why not try your local Motor Factors they supply NON OE parts to the Motor Trade and they wouldn't put up with hassle from a customer from using substandard parts, works for me.