My 2009 xD had a tapping / clunking ball joint at 165k miles. Since the bushings are getting bad and the control arms are rusty, I replaced the entire control arm. Sorry there aren't photos. The weather was below zero and I just wanted to finish the job.

I thought this would be easy. It wasn't. I looked up how it's supposed to be done, and the instructions included dismantling the steering box. I didn't want to. Here's the "easy way". First, you'll need a 19mm end wrench, 19 and 17mm sockets, needle nose pliers,
penetrating oil (I like PB Blaster), either an impact wrench or a breaker bar (if you can afford it, consider an impact wrench), and a ball joint separator. Harbor Freight sells a reasonably decent ball joint separator for $20. [Edit: You should also have some threadlock/Loctite]

The Problem: Each control arm is held on by two bolts and one ball joint. In theory you just remove those and pull out the control arm. On the driver side that's fine. On the passenger side one of the bolts is blocked by the oil filter housing.

1. Jack up the front of the car and safely support it with jack stands.
   
2. Remove the front wheels.
   
3. Raise the engine a couple of inches. This seems daunting, but it's not that bad:
   1. Unbolt the upper engine mount. It's under the hood on the passenger side - look for a 17mm bolt that goes through a big rubber cylinder.
      
   2. Put the floor jack under the engine. I put it between the oil pan and the lower engine mount. You may want/need to put a block of wood on top of the jack. Carefully lift the engine a couple inches. It should not take a lot of force.
   3. [Edit to clarify: Do NOT put the jack under the oil pan. There is an exposed bit of engine block between the oil pan and the bell housing. Use that.]
      
   4. Look at the upper engine mount to see what's going on. The bracket that attaches to the engine should now be a couple inches above the engine mount. I chose to slide a small piece of 2x4 into that gap and remove the jack, so I'd have more room to work.
      
4. Remove each control arm. Each one has similar steps:
   1. Spray all the connectors with penetrating oil, including the castle nut on top of the ball joint.
      
   2. Use needle nose pliers to remove the pin from the castle nut on top of the ball joint.
      
   3. Use a 19mm end wrench to loosen and remove the castle nut. You might have to use a hammer to beat on the end wrench and help loosen it up.
      
   4. Use a 19mm socket and breaker bar or impact wrench to remove the two bolts holding the control arm.
      
   5. (Optional, but I think it helps) Use a 17mm socket and breaker bar or impact to loosen (but not remove) the subframe bolt that's next to the rear control arm bolt. This helps get the large bushing out.
      
   6. Use the ball joint separator to apply pressure on the ball joint. I had to beat the separator in place with a hammer.
      
   7. If the ball joint hasn't separated yet, tap on the steering knuckle with a hammer. Alternately tighten the ball joint separator and tap on the steering knuckle until the ball joint comes loose.
      
   8. Pull out the control arm.
      
5. Install new control arms. Each one has similar steps:
   1. Work the new control arm into place. If you can't get the large bushing in place, see the optional step 4.5 above.
      
   2. Install (but do not tighten) the control arm bolts. [Edit: Forgot to mention, I strongly recommend putting loctite on the bolts when you put them in.]
      
   3. Install and tighten the castle nut. Install the castle nut pin.
      
6. If you loosened the subframe bolts, re-tighten them now.
   
7. Double check everything. At this point it should all be installed, but the control arm bolts should not be tight and the engine should still have a wood block in the upper engine mount.
   
8. Put the wheels on and lower the car. Bounce the front of the car 5 or 6 times to help settle the suspension.
   
9. Tighten the control arm bolts (ideally with the wheels still on the ground). The vertical ones should be 110 lb-ft. The horizontal ones should be 108 lb-ft.
   
10. Put the jack back under the engine, and lift it enough to remove the wood block you previously put in the upper engine mount. Remove wood block. Lower jack.
    
11. Re-install and tighten the bolt for the upper engine mount.
    

This is harder than on most cars, but it is a feasible DIY project. Note that your car will likely not drive straight; any time you mess with the suspension you should take it in for an alignment afterwards.

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Great Write up!

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Administrator

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Thank you , Helpful

 

Just a note, I recently realized the motor mount configuration is different depending on which transmission you have.

Please Note the guide above was written for a Manual Transmission.

I imagine it would probably still work with an automatic, but I haven't tried.

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