Front upper suspension arms , d3 s8

[MikkiJayne]

Once the pinch bolt is out I use a large tapered punch to push the upper arms out. Usually they need to be worked back and forth a bit to break the ring of corrosion around the pin where the pinch bolt goes.

[S81]

I had the same problem ,I used a trolley Jack and a small round bar to apply heavy upward pressure on the pin in the track Rod and then taped the housing gently and prolonged and pin eventually started to move ( it's not that easy to get the bar and Jack positioned to get the strong upward pressure as part of the suspension stops u from getting directly under it)(same as yourself I didn't want to damage the rubber boots ) ,I think I cleaned the corrosion out of the slit with a hack saw blade and sprayed penetration oil into it before hand as well ,when I went to the second side i just rung the head of the bolt right away and pulled it thu with the nut as it seemed to be the only thing that worked on mine

[dangerdred]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Once the pinch bolt is out I use a large tapered punch to push the upper arms out. Usually they need to be worked back and forth a bit to break the ring of corrosion around the pin where the pinch bolt goes.

Are you doing this on the bench or on the car?

[MikkiJayne]

On the bench - I never do control arms on the car. The principle should still work on the car, but you're swinging the hammer in an awkward direction of course.

[S81]

I had tried the punch method on the car but couldn't get a good enough thump at it to free it with the hammer so moved on to the Jack and bar

[dangerdred]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

On the bench - I never do control arms on the car. The principle should still work on the car, but you're swinging the hammer in an awkward direction of course.

Now ya tell me!!...lol
Indeed, no swing could be had with a hammer with the bearing housing on the car so I decided to take your lead and remove the whole assembly until I ran into the same problem again (only worse!) with the tie-rod ball-joint. The pinch bolt is seized solid and there doesn't even seem to be a bolt head to shear off to pull it through like I did with the other one. I had liked the idea of pulling out the whole assembly as the arms could then be torqued up to the referenced angle on the bench (if I read the manual correctly?) not to mention full access to my arch liner as I have a washer fluid leak issue to look at while I'm in there as well.

Originally Posted by S81

I had the same problem ,I used a trolley Jack and a small round bar to apply heavy upward pressure on the pin in the track Rod and then taped the housing gently and prolonged and pin eventually started to move ( it's not that easy to get the bar and Jack positioned to get the strong upward pressure as part of the suspension stops u from getting directly under it)(same as yourself I didn't want to damage the rubber boots ) ,I think I cleaned the corrosion out of the slit with a hack saw blade and sprayed penetration oil into it before hand as well ,when I went to the second side i just rung the head of the bolt right away and pulled it thu with the nut as it seemed to be the only thing that worked on mine

Thanks for that...I was ready to admit defeat and had the wheel back on with the intention of giving it to a professional, but I'll give it another go and see if I can get anywhere with the jack pressure. I did speak to a mechanic who told me he just hammers in a ball-joint fork and at the same time expands the slit in the alloy to get the arms out.

[MikkiJayne]

Its rare to need to re-use the arms, so destroying them to get them out is not uncommon.

These days I tend to assume I will need to change both inner and outer tie rods in a D2 when doing control arms. The outer will usually be seized in to the upright and often in to the inner rod as well, so I remove the upright by sawing the tie rod end off and then separate the remains on the bench.

[dangerdred]

Have managed to get the drivers side done - found it a right bitch of a job tbh.
Is there any knack in getting the arch liner back in - I see the procedure mentioned in the pdf but in Rep-66 which I don't see in the downloads.

EDIT: I now see that the arch liner push trim clips are not reusable as no matter what I try I can't get them to fit back in.

[CrozA8]

Hi all,
I am at the point where I need to replace all of my control arms (scrubbing tyres big time) and have found this thread very interesting.
Two questions I hope you may be able to help me with.

1-Are Meyle products any good. I hear that they may not be of german quality??

2- Bushings were mentioned earlier. Can anyone let me know where I can source these, other than Audi. I'm told that Lemforder is the place to go but in Aus it's a little difficult as they seem to deal with the trade only.

Any advise greatly appreciated.