Changing the 911SC front strut ball joint

Often forgotten, the front ball joints at the bottom of each strut can develop vertical play over time. Many cars will probably still be fitted with the original ones, especially as it’s very tricky to spot and can turn into a horrible job to tackle. Having now done a few of them Richard, our resident 911SC Technical Advisor, shares his experience on replacing these having now done a few of them:



This is one of those jobs that are on the horrible list, although the initial part of the process is straightforward:
 

• Jack up the front of your 911 
• Put it on axle stands for support
• Remove the wheels, the brake calipers and pipes, brake disc and then the dust shield. 

Use a long allen key to loosen and remove the clamp nut holding the bearing in place, the steering ball joint can now be disconnected. 

The first tricky job is to remove the large castle nut, something that I have had a lot of trouble removing in the past. Some heat does help and the best tool for the job is an impact wrench together with the special castle nut tool 280b. It’s a must buy tool.


Castle nut and must have tools for the job

The next really difficult part of the whole process is to get the tapered bolt out from the strut ball joint.


Tapered bolt, the most challenging part of the job

I tried hitting it with a lump hammer, heating it up and doing the same again - it would not budge. I decided to remove the strut to make sure it would not be damaged. I left the three strut washers in place in the supporting gunk so when re-attaching the strut, the suspension’s geometry would not be changed. 

The only way I could get the tapered bolt out in the end was to use some heat and press it out with my 10-ton press. Yet, even with the tapered bolt removed, the ball joint may still not come out. On my strut I had to remove the rubber cover from the ball joint and hit the joint with a metal taper and mallet. I took the opportunity to refurbish the strut since it was it good working order.


Strut looking like new and ready for 1000s more miles

This is a good time to put the new ball joint onto the strut. Get the ball joint taper exactly lined up with the hole on the strut. The tapered bolt can easily be taped in - if it’s not correctly lined up it will be hard to bang it in. 

Putting the strut back on is pretty simple. Use a new tapered bolt, locking nut and castle nut. 

This article should hopefully help with those tricky parts of the job which no one tells you about, but remember that you will need the correct tools and it is not as straightforward as it seems, so perhaps not one for everyone to tackle. Let us know how you get on and remember to use our 911SC Forum to ask questions and share your experiences.