How to - Replace Front Droplinks

hondamad2204

Advanced Member
Messages
3,832
Hopefully this will be of use to some. Took me under an hour, it's very straight forward to do so I shall try to be as thorough as possible.

Caution - They are sided..so you cannot buy two of the same and fit either to which ever side you please!

For this task you will need:
  • Some Penetrating fluid of some description. I chose GT85 as it was to hand, but a can of man up may also do the trick ;)
  • Some copper grease (not vital)
  • 17mm spanner
  • 5mm Allen Key
  • Axle stands (I did one side at a time, so only required 1)
  • Car jack
  • Replacement Drop-Links.
  • Common sense.....if you sruggle to take off a wheel then maybe this task isn't for you. Be safe!




Step 1
Remove the wheel .....



Step 2,
Place axle stand under the car to stop it falling on you...I chose under the subframe. (you will need to remove the car jack to use else where later)




Step 3.
Identify the problem drop-links.




Step 4.
Spray penetrating fluid over the nuts to help when loosening.




Step 5.
Place the Jack underneath the lower control arm, and carefully use the jack to lift up the arm/suspension. This will remove the tension on the droplink / anti-roll bar and make it easier to remove :)




Step 6.
Loosen off the nuts. For this you require the allen key and spanner. They are ball joints, so the threaded part will want to spin as you try and undo the nut itself. Wedge the allen key in, and up against the lower control arm itself, and this will give you both hands back to undo the nut should you require.




Step 7.
Remove the drop-link. This is where the jack placed under the hub will help massively. Get the jack to the required height, and the drop-link should come out with ease. :)

If you are struggling at removing the ball joint, a sharp tap on the end of it should free it up, or you may wish to use a ball joint splitter. (I had no need to on mine)




Step 8.
Compare against your new one. :)




Step 9.
Grease up the threads, and insert back between the control arm and ARB. (Again..Adjusting the height of the jack if need be)




Step 10.
Tighten up the nuts using the allen key and spanner. Slowly release the jack from under the hub so the suspension is in a relaxed position and recheck tightness again for one final tweak. ;)




Re-jack your car back up, remove axle stand, put wheel back on, and do the other side.

I paid £25 posted for a set from eBay, and the job itself took under 1 hour. Access isn't a problem at all if you are working on your driveway, and you should have no more knocking.

part numbers are...


Job done! :xcheers:

James
 

HondaK20

Member
Messages
7
Good, detailed write up here fella! Future users will find this very useful.

Thanks for taking the time to share. Enjoy your ride...
 

adamamuk

Advanced Member
Messages
560
Just want to thank you for this guide Jimmer!
It came in very handy today, very clear descriptions and brilliant use of pics!

Sent from my HTC One A9 using Tapatalk
 

nellly

Advanced Member
Messages
282
also its not always that easy, out of the 4 only one of mine came off easily. The rest was a pain in the ass and took ages a set of mole grips helped loads though as the allen key ended up rounding off
 

hondamad2204

Advanced Member
Messages
3,832
No worries guys. Glad its of some use. :)

Yeah suppose if they are properly seized then breaking the boot and clamping it will help.

4 years of daily driven use and mine were not too seized. If they have never been replaced, more man up, shouting and swearing may be required haha

Regards
 

Bewesy

Advanced Member
Messages
228
Great write up, as always.

One thing I would add which helped me on the second one, would be if the exposed threads are particularly manky, to wire brush them and clean them up before trying to remove the nuts. Mine was quite bad and I didn't do this on the first one, resulting in the nut getting stuck on the rusty section and then the allen key rounding off. I ended up cutting it off with a hacksaw. (Which was actually quicker than I thought)

Also, if you have both sides jacked up at the same time then you shouldn't need to use a jack on the ARB as there should be no tension on it .

Just refining a great guide :)
 

Teggs

Active Member
Messages
83
Thanks for the Write up Jimmer, and for others contributions. Mine has just failed MOT on 'insecure' ARB link, got the wheel of tonight, the bugger has completely 'snapped', applied some WD40 and looks like my friday evening is now spoken for!
 

hondamad2204

Advanced Member
Messages
3,832
No worries, glad to be of help. Can you still see the pictures??? They were photo bucket uploads but I‘m sure that all went up the Swamy,.. weird that I can still see them. Lol
 

Teggs

Active Member
Messages
83
Yep, pictures still visible, finally got the ARB links today after a mix-up at the suppliers.

and after 2 hours fitting later, still no further forward! bolt heads still fairly intact, but 'allen key' central thread socket turned to mush pretty quickly, I wouldn't be surprised if these are still the original items (17 years old!!). so I'm not gonna be too critical. A trip to screwfix tomorrow to get some proper tools to F**k bolts up and hopefully I will start making progress.
 

Teggs

Active Member
Messages
83
Well finally got the job complete, I'll chuck in what I have learned....

1. Get a decent (high lift jack) ideally low profile, it would have been so much easier to have that bit of extra clearance for working. This will also enable you to jack up on the front / rear central jacking points and put in axle stands twice as fast!

2.Have something comfortable to lie on, an old curtain is not the best.

3. as with any job on the car, always best if you have the right tools to start with...namely...

4. a proper set of allen keys...

5. full gamut of spanners, jimmers guide mentions 17mm, but the ARM link I was trying to remove was on 14mm, I don't know anything about ratchet spanners but i'm thinking they might have helped in this situation?

6. Copper grease will probably pay dividends in the future

7. As mentioned previously, the allen key sockets had turned to mush, 1st, be sure to try and bang an allen key deep into the socket as far as possible, a bit difficult to get a hammer in there, but even just tapping with the end of a spanner will help. If you can get it locked in, then the underside of the suspension spring base plate will stop it from rotating as you loosen the bolts.

8. If all else fails, it's time to get a bit naughty, a mate lent me a grinder, but with brake lines and all the other suspension components there is not a great deal of room to work with. This is what you need...

http://www.makitauk.com/products/multi-tool/all-multi-tools/dtm50z-18v-multi-tool-lxt.html



I bought some 'cheap' blades to go with it ....

https://www.saxtonblades.co.uk/

But with the small 'Bi Metal' blades it went through the bolt and sorted the job out, just go nice and steady.

Appreciate most of this might be teaching to suck eggs for some of the forum members, but i'm pretty much new to car maintenance, so if you are as green as me I hope this is helpful.


Teggs
 

rsmithinfo

Advanced Member
Messages
161
Good guide worked for me :) I took both wheels off at once so didn‘t need to jack up the control arms
 
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