Thrust Arm Replacement 1997-2003 5-SERIES V-8 CARS

[chillax5]

The Beisian DIY says for V8 the final torque for bushing side bolt is 94lb ft, not 80lb ft, which is for the V6. Can someone confirm?

[switchman]

Many of us (me included) are using the Meyle replacement thrust arm bushing, they are made from solid rubber...not any harsher than stock, and more durable. Just a warning, most everything else Meyle makes is garbage, including their thrust arms...only buy the bushing. If you order from EAC Europarts, they will install them in brand new Lemforder thrust arms, which is what I did.


Has anyone used Lemfoerder ? I found the arm complete with bj and bushing for around $120 at AutoHaus. I've used the Lemfoerder ball joint when i replaced the thrust arm bushing. I heard it is the better brand and actually a original supplier.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[sotexproject]

I know this is a really old post... However, I followed it (among a few others) on rebuilding my front end. By far the most difficult part is the ball joint separation. I noticed that none of the DIY write-ups mentioned the use of heat. I personally do not believe mine could have been removed without heat expansion. I used a 7-ton 2-jaw Sears on the lower (front) joint and the Harbor Freight on the upper (rear) joint. I pre tensioned to a reasonable torque far short of breaking the tools the evening prior to tear down.
Overnight the ambient got down to the low 50's. Went out in the morning with a propane torch, applied it to the knuckle area of the front joint and within 5 minutes… Bang. The back joint required about 10 additional minutes. At no point could I not touch the heated surfaces, meaning less than 120 degrees at most. In warm climates simply apply cold water to the surface before applying the torch. The alloy of the knuckle and steel insert will always expand faster than the steel of the bolt. You only need about .01 expansion as a hole will expand in all three directions. Simple metallurgic thermal expansion properties work wonders.
BTW… beating the hell-out-of and over stressing your parts create stress fractures. Just my 2 cents.

[gsxrken]

Many thanks to the OP. I did both of mine with Lemfoerder replacement arms without a hitch. One comment, I heated up the spindle with a heat gun right where the ball joint goes in until it was just about uncomfortable to touch with my hand. About 5 whacks on my tuning fork tie rod splitter and the ball joint dropped right out.
Last comment is that at least with the sport model, there is a very narrow window of clearance with the steering centerlink to get the 21mm socket on the bushing bolt, or to fully extract the bolt. When I was undoing it, it was ok because the car was in the air and I could grab a brake rotor and move it where I wanted to. But upon final tightening, with the car on four ramps and weighted properly, I had to crawl out from the car too many times to count before I got the steering in the exact spot for one side, then the other.
Shimmy is 90% gone... I'm hoping the last 10% is my whipped rear tires.

[feeshta]

Many thanks to the OP. I did both of mine with Lemfoerder replacement arms without a hitch. One comment, I heated up the spindle with a heat gun right where the ball joint goes in until it was just about uncomfortable to touch with my hand. About 5 whacks on my tuning fork tie rod splitter and the ball joint dropped right out.
Last comment is that at least with the sport model, there is a very narrow window of clearance with the steering centerlink to get the 21mm socket on the bushing bolt, or to fully extract the bolt. When I was undoing it, it was ok because the car was in the air and I could grab a brake rotor and move it where I wanted to. But upon final tightening, with the car on four ramps and weighted properly, I had to crawl out from the car too many times to count before I got the steering in the exact spot for one side, then the other.
Shimmy is 90% gone... I'm hoping the last 10% is my whipped rear tires.

The steering alignment issue was a major problem when I did mine as well. I had the car on the lift, and couldn't physically muscle the brake discs to turn the rack unless I lowered the car to get some leverage on it, in which case it was just as easy to use the steering wheel. I must have raised and lowered the car 25 times to get it all lined up and freed. Rather annoying process, along with the fact that the ball joints on the ends of the control arms appeared to have been welded in. I was sore for a week from beating on them with a sledge and pickle fork.

[Richter12x2]

Just finished this, and a few tips that make life easier:

1. Taking a few minutes to remove the brake calipers and rotors make life easier. You'll save time and frustration in the long run.

2. Remove the nuts until you can spin them with your fingers before popping the balljoint loose. The friction on the ball will usually hold it tighter than the locknut. The first side I did I popped the balljoint first, then spent an hour trying to get the nut off, and ruined two #6 hex keys, which proved totally ineffective at keeping the balljoint from turning - eventually I use a floor jack under the balljoint tightened it all BACK down, then loosened it again.

3. Definitely remove the balljoint side before the bushing side.

[jasha]

make one for me and i'll pay ya! sure it's cheap but i don't have access to some of the things you've mentioned.

Mate is it possible to note the measurements on each part in metric as some of us (meaning me) are not that switched on when it come to numbers pls.

[jasha]

I tried searching for this, and didn't find anything about it anywhere. It's a bit more expensive than other solutions, but I am really not keen on replacing a part only to have it wear out again in short order. Anyone have any experience with this product?

http://www.rogueengineering.com/rogu...H/RE-FTAB.html

Check these out ill be putting on my car soon and not as dear as the rogue engineering ones. About $130 http://www.whiteline.com.au/product_..._number=W82977

[sup3rd]

This thread got me through replacing the thrust arms on my M5. Thank you so much!!

[ViolinARC]

Just finished this, and a few tips that make life easier:

1. Taking a few minutes to remove the brake calipers and rotors make life easier. You'll save time and frustration in the long run.

2. Remove the nuts until you can spin them with your fingers before popping the balljoint loose. The friction on the ball will usually hold it tighter than the locknut. The first side I did I popped the balljoint first, then spent an hour trying to get the nut off, and ruined two #6 hex keys, which proved totally ineffective at keeping the balljoint from turning - eventually I use a floor jack under the balljoint tightened it all BACK down, then loosened it again.

3. Definitely remove the balljoint side before the bushing side.

No insult intended but I just did this job over Monday/Tuesday and disagree completely.

#1...I didn't remove the calipers or rotors this time around and only loosened the pinch collar, disconnected the end links and sway bar bushing brackets to drop the assembly for access to the TAB bolts and BJ nuts. It worked like a charm and was much faster than removing all that extra stuff (UNLESS you're doing the brakes at the same time).

#2 and #3...Removing the TAB first made it easier to drop and position the CA for access and alignment of the BJ removal tool. I have removed these more than once by trying to "pop" the BJ loose first but always had trouble getting the tool to align properly using this method. After this last experience, I discovered that removing the TAB side FIRST allowed me to swing the CA into a better position for the BJ removal tool to fit more precisely. From there, it was muy rapido and only took a few turns of the tool to "pop" that sucker loose, was less frustrating and took much less overall effort. I also completely removed the BJ nut before applying the removal tool. On removal, I didn't need a hex key and when reassembling, didn't ruin a single hex key but did need to use it initially to prevent the BJ bolt from spinning freely. Once the nut was snugged down, it was easy to torque without the hex key.

NOTE: Be aware, if the BJ nut is completely removed, the entire CA and tool will drop to the ground suddenly so don't be directly under everything when doing it this way. Just from my experience and my 2 cents...

- - - Updated - - -

Check these out ill be putting on my car soon and not as dear as the rogue engineering ones. About $130 http://www.whiteline.com.au/product_..._number=W82977

I considered the RE TABs but decided they were too expensive. I tried to get the split ones from UUC but they are apparently on "permanent" back order...avoid them as they showed "in stock" and they never notified me about the back order status. I finally went with the PowerFlex Track Black PFF5-501's for $95+ and am EXTREMELY satisfied with the results...

[jicaino]

Sorry to revive an old thread. About to do thurst + control arms now. I weight more like 250, not 150. should I torque the thurst arm bushings with the usual load the car sees? (meaning, me?) or should I follow normal weights loading?

[ex1988shark]

Anyone ever thought about fabricating a tool that simulates the ride height by compressing each suspension/strut assembly to the correct level, then torque the TAB's? I was just changing struts on the Subie and thought of this.