E36 M3 Control Arm Ball Joint Replacement with E30

[Demon Speed]

For those using the E30 replacement inner ball joint, is a press fit of the ball joint shaft into the engine cradle maintained?

My car 98' M3.
I ordered Lemforder W0133-1626314-LEM (cross to this p/n 31121126253)and installed replaced the stock BMW ball joint with this one.

Once bolted in if you loosen the inner ball joint nut the ball joint the LCA fall down out of the engine cradle, ie. it is not a press fit.

Anyone experience this?

[jayjaya29]

You are probably not fully tightening the ball joint nut when you initially install them.

[Demon Speed]

Believe me it's tight. I thought the same thing at first. I am wondering if the taper on the shaft is different between the E30 and E36 ball joint. Or if somehow I got the wrong part.

[ForcedFirebird]

I measured them and the tapers are the same, perhaps you got the wrong part? I have ordered Moog ball joints and got Febi stamped parts in a box before. You never know.

[MMMGP]

The part numbers match from my Amazon order history.

http://amzn.com/B001G6T4WC

http://amzn.com/B001G6KHSW

[jayjaya29]

No problems here and I can also confirm the part numbers match.

When you reinstall them, place a floor jack on the underside of the ball joint while tightening to prevent the shaft from spinning.

[PITT M3 RR]

Just ordered the inners and outers by lemforder from amazon. They're having a 30 gift for new members signing up for their CC. I did that, and my total came to 97.00 bucks for all four to my door with 2 day shipping.

Already had the 12ton press from doing all my bushings and bearings so Im good to go. Cant wait.

[ForcedFirebird]

That's a good price. For future reference, blunttech.com has them for $117 shipped - regular price for the Lemforder. I personally aren't hyped up on the Lemforder, had a customer have us install Lemforder control arms and the ball joints didn't last 6mos on flat Florida roads as a street-only daily driver. We generally use Moog and have had several cars at Sebring and Homestead and they are still nice and stiff after the last few racing seasons.
Moog at blunttech.com are $114 shipped - regular price, couple dollars less than Lemforder, even.

[M3Jokster]

Should i invest in a 12-ton or 20-ton hydraulic press....
The price difference is about 75 bucks.... 199 (20T)compared to 129 (12T) and i get an additional 20% off too..

[Hova]

I was in this dilemma as well.
I went the cheap route and went with the 12 ton press.
There is A LOT of flex in the 12 ton press when trying to get the old ball joints out. The I-beam on the bottom and top both deflect at least 1cm. The 12ton press does work just fine though. Expect to hear a LOUD bang sound when the ball joint breaks free. Your local auto parts store (Autozone, Advanced Auto Parts, ETC.) should have this tool for rent: http://www.harborfreight.com/ball-jo...cles-4065.html
It is a tool worth its weight in gold. Once you use it, you can return it back to the store for your deposit back. You can do the ball joint swap with just this tool on a vise BTW. You can just put the C-clamp in the vise, and press the ball joint out with a good sized breaker bar. Heat helps here. If you have a blow torch, use it. You could avoid buying anything if you wanted. Just a thought.

[ForcedFirebird]

12 ton will press ball joints, but the frame is kind of weak (as mentioned). If you have a welder, though, just weld it together and it will be a lot more stable.

[PITT M3 RR]

Yea and Just for the record, I did all of the rear ball joints with the 12 ton, all bushings and even wheel bearings.

[Jrrrrrrr]

Ad infintium on the amount of flex in the HF 12-ton press. It works for any sort of balljoint, bearing or bushing on light cars like these, and much much more, but I would have gone with the 20-ton if I were buying again.

Thoughts (and DIY) on pressing these balljoints with a HF 12-ton press:

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=402063

[ForcedFirebird]

I use a bearing kit for bearings, so they can be done on the car.

[PITT M3 RR]

I got ya, I have an entire extra rear end I refreshed though! Easy out.

[ForcedFirebird]

Awesome. Only reason I'm in this thread is because of e30's lol. Just did a major restore on an entire e30 rear section. Some of our clients have e36's and that lead me here. It's kind of crazy that people buy new control arms, rather than have a local press them together.

[riverrats97]

I had originally planned to buy the BimmerWorld replacement front control arm set for the E36 because I was told by several reputable BMW shops that by 100k miles the stock arms would most likely have bent slightly from potholes and such, on top of the ball joints being shot. However I've also seen several claims that the stock steel E36 arms will not bend under any driving circumstances; Including years and years of racing, nasty potholes, etc, in which case replacing the joints would be the way to go. I haven't gotten to reassembling the front end yet but I'm still not sure which way to go. Seems like there haven't been any issues reported by the guys reusing the original arms though.

[RobertFontaine]

Silly question but it seems like a big clamp w/ an arbor and an impact gun would get the job done pretty quick.

[jayjaya29]

No way would that have enough force to push the ball joint out. You need a press.

[PHATassM3]

I worked for bmw as a tech and we have reused the arms numerous times...

[RobertFontaine]

So this would just be funny then?



this i mean

[PHATassM3]

So this would just be funny then?



this i mean

lol i have used one of those in a pinch before haha but a press works best And to remove i used an air hammer

[RobertFontaine]

I'm unlikely to buy a compressor, air tools and a 20 ton press to get this done as much as I would like to.

[PHATassM3]

honestly cheapest way is pull arms off bring arms and new parts to pepboys or any shop they willl usually press everything in for you for 20-30 bucks or find a local who has a press

[rohner88]

Anyone use the meyle non hd brand ball joints without any issues? They're like half the price?