My problem du jour: I am installing new stock control arms on my 1991 318i. When I try to tighten the main ("center") ball joint nut, the whole ball joint rotates rather than allowing me to tighten the nut. How do I tighten? (I suspect I made a mistake by putting anti-seize on the ball joint shaft.)
Don't need to put anything on the ball stud, but it is no big deal. Just put a jack under it to get a little pressure on it then tighten the nut. Or, you can get a big honking C clamp to pull the arm to the subframe. Happens all the time.
Paul, Per your suggestion, I used my jack. It worked!!!!! Thank you for the help. I'd been sitting here calling myself "stupid" for the last while because of this. Brian.
That is a tried and true technique for sure. I have NOT had that problem using air tools sparingly. I start the nuts by hand and put upward hand pressure on the arm and blip the trigger on my impact. 9 times out of 10 it will wind it up tight and no hammering is done at all. After that, I back off the nut manually, if necessary, and continue to torque it tight and line up the cotter pin hole. Being a mechanic yourself Paul, I am sure you know all the dangers of air tools and how much trouble people can get themselves into with them. Used properly, you can get yourself out of alot of trouble, and work, as well. That said, I am not suggesting everyone start banging away on your new suspension parts with air tools when assembling. Now....disassembly.....that is a different story!!! Air tools have saved my bacon more than once.
It is actually very difficult to get an impact or breaker bar on the nuts that hold the center ball joint on an E30/36/46 and impossible on the outer joints. If you have long extensions and just the right swivel sockets, you can sometimes do it. In fact, here is a tip: If you posess those tools and can get purchse on the tops of nuts, you can remove the nuts entirely, then run them down a few threads by hand. Then you take a big hammer an wail in the top of the extension, which will pop the center joint free without a pickle fork. This is the way I save the boot and only replace the outer joint (especially on the E36 with the crappy rubber mounted joints.) Just don't miss when you swing the hammer. Ask my brother why
I am surprised you can get anything beyond a spanner on the center E30 control arm ball joint nut. On my 318i, it was impossible to get my fat torque wrench onto the top of the subframe to torque the nuts, particularly on the passenger side (hidden under the exhaust header). I had to estimate torque using a plain wrench: not something an amateur like me is good at.
You need a really long extension (like 3 feet) and the right kind of wobble socket. As for torque, is is well nigh impossible to overtighten them by hand, so just really tight by hand is fine.
I was being general concerning torque on the ball joints. As Moose said, it is hard to over tighten them manually. Just FYI you can use a crows foot on a torque wrench for applications where sockets won't fit. They come in quite handy when I'm wrenching on aircraft and all fasteners must be torqued correctly. A quick search of ArizonaTools.com for "crowsfoot" brings up 2 pages to choose from.
