Has any one tried to change the lower ball joints on a 85 GSL-se? They are pressed into the control arm and service manual states that they are not replaceable. The aftermarket sells the ball joints without the control arm.

Has anyone had success changing these?

 

I'm going to be doing this in the next day or 2. I will let you know how it goes. You are correct in that Mazda does not sell the ball joint by itself and the FSM recommends replacing the entire arm. The arms are so expensive, though. There have been others on the forum that have replaced them with good results. They weren't GSL-SEs, but that doesn't matter as the 12A cars are the same.

1. you have to be careful pressing out the old ball joint and pressing in the new. If not, you'll mess up the control arm and the new one will not stay in correctly.

2. they have versions of the ball joint that have a retaining clip. This is a good idea to have in case the control arms gets a little tweaked. I'm not sure if the ball joint that I am getting has the clip or not.

3. to be safe, it is a good idea to put a couple tack welds on the new ball joint to make sure it stays put. You don't want it to fall out while you are driving.

My plan is to rent a ball joint press. Remove the old and press in the new. If my ball joints do not have the clips, I'll tack weld the ball joint to be safe. If you have questions, just let me know. I can post some pics of the process while I do it.

Kent

 

The search function is such a wonderful thing. :-)

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-archive-71/suspension-steering-replacing-ball-joints-757771/

 

I haven't had the problem yet, but in the interest of Be Prepared (the Boy Scout motto!) I looked for the circlip units in the www.p-s-t.com catalog but couldn't dig out the part no.

 

did mine last week no problems, big press to get them out and in no problems, didnt tac them due to the heat but each to there own

Mark

 

I would advise tack welding them in, I had a few come loose over the years, other than that its pretty straightforward. Just press the old ones out, clean up the arm a little and press the new one in.

 

Thanks for the advice. Do you know if the stock ball joints have clips, I tried pressing them out and they would not move. I was only using a small bench press.

 

They have a press system specifically for ball joints. I borrowed one from Autozone, so you might be able to find a loaner kit from a decent parts store.

I didn't weld mine either. They went in so tightly, I didn't see the point to it.

 

I had great success changing them on the weekend. My son borrowed a ball joint press from his school, and they were easy to press out and the new ones in.

We also sandblasted and painted all the front end components including the sub frame. Also we replaced all the bushings with Energy urethane bushings.

Thanks for the advice!

 

I wish you luck in them staying in - I had 1 loose and 1 tight after previous owner had new ones pressed in... A simple tack would have kept the failure from occurring.

 

mine have seen a few miles now and i drive it like i stole it
even went drag racing this weekend no problems

Mark

 

Glad it worked out for you...

 

Agreed, mine went it nice and tight but still managed to work themselves free. I tack all the ones I install now.