Meet the Instructors Car belonging to my other half’s family
The 2010 – Ford Fiesta 1.4 TDCI – or what ever ford like to call there diesels 🙂
With 116,000 miles! (its 5 years old meaning its averaging around 23thousand a year)
The car is literally on the road from early morning to late at night
Been an driving instructor, been off the road = No money
The owner said he was hearing a loud clunk occurring while out and about
He noted it was worse while students were carrying out slow maneuvers and a clunk / bang was occurring.
Getting the car up discovered that the passenger side was perfectly fine and tight within the ball joints
But the driver-side had developed play within the bottom ball joint and track rod end
Since the area is littered with potholes, speed bumps, students catching kerbs, carrying out full lock to lock maneuvers all its life, its amazing that 116k is the first sign of any minor repairs been needed
(its hard to see the movement in the joints – its only about 1mm each way, but trying to record the play AND make it play was a little tricky, may not be visible to you)
Changing the track rod ends is pretty simple and easy. Start by cracking the locking nut for the adjustment off after a soak with penetrating oil, Marking the top of the inner rod with a white line to help maintain as close as possible alignment (toe in / out).
Crack the nut on the ball joint, whack the hub to pop the ball joint, count the rotations off and make a note of it
Compare old to new to ensure no major difference (luckily they look identical), refit same number of turns and tighten it all up.
(IMAGE: VISUAL NOTE)
A little copper ease of the threads to help protect from corrosion, and to prevent the locking nut seizing into place.
Next we move onto the bottom arm, again lack of images here, as i got carried away in just getting the arm out and new one in
Since there are no anti-roll bars or anything to contend with, its a simple case of popping the bottom ball joint out from the steering knuckle, and removing the 2 bolts that secure the arm to the sub-frame
Work the arm free
Reinsert the new arm into place, fit bolts loosely, attach arm to the steering knuckle (bottom ball joint)
And then tighten everything back on up.
(IMAGE: NEW ARM IN PLACE)
A white alignment mark helps to pickup any movement for a final check after a test drive
Refitting the wheel and torquing up the bolts (110NM)
A final check to ensure no play was detected, before going for a spin around the block to ensure no knocks could be heard and that the customer is happy with the end result 🙂
Once back, the wheel bolts were re torqued to ensure they wont come loose, Also a visual check on the bolts to ensure the arm is still secure.
Since the vehicle is always on the go, it makes total sense to have the vehicle tracking readjusted to help preserve the front tyre wear. The owner arranged at a local garage to have it adjusted.
I followed up with owner at a later date, so far the owner has no issues 🙂
Note: – Some images are missing, as i often do – i get carried away within the repair, and forget to get pictures
Soon as i next at the customers car again, i’ll get the missing images
bbautorepairs 