Well I had a bit of a delve over the W/E to try and find out why I have a low speed 'creak/light clonk'.

Read don't know how many Interweb posts etc and decided that the in for a penny in for a pound approach might be wise at 123K

So did I miss ordering anything?

Lower Arm x2
Front Upper Arm RH x1
Front Upper Arm LH x1
Ball Joint Upper Arm x2
Anti Roll Bar Link x2
Nuts for Upper and Lower Arms x4
Bolts for Upper and Lower Arms x4
Flanged Nuts for AntiRoll Bar x4
Outer Track Rod Ball Joints x2
Inner Rack Tie Rods x2
Nuts for Outer Ball Joints x 2

Are there any tips and tricks to changing this lot on an L322, sequence etc, special foibles to look out for, things to be aware of?

We'll have the car on the ramps and be performing a laser alignment afterwards.

Tomorrow going to dose everything with a gallon of WD40 in advance of the parts arriving. (might as well as doing an oil service).

Cheers,
Rich

Took my hubs off todo the ball joints made it much easier and dont tighten the upper arms until you lower the car down with normal weight on the suspension.
Other than that good luck its not such a bad job

Maybe you will also need the two torx headed bolts per side that hold the outer ball joints into the hub casting? Not sure if you are planning to remove the whole steering knuckle from the car? You don't have to but getting the rear lower arm ball joints out will be a lot easier I imagine if you do. If the hub comes off you will need a big torque wrench or torque multiplier for the caliper bolts and hub nut. Previously a 2008MY Tonga Green Vogue SE 3.6 TDV8

Rich
If possible could you put up part numbers. It would be great for this to all be in one place.

I have some numbers below from another post.

- LH & RH Lower arms LR018343 & LR018344
- Ball joints x2 for the lower arms RBK500210
- upper arms x2 RBJ500920
- Lemforder steering tie rods x2 QJB500050 ______________________________
Vogue tdv8 08MY poverty pack - wow

Quote:

Rich
If possible could you put up part numbers. It would be great for this to all be in one place.

Thanks Rich, much appreciated.

Regards Pete ______________________________
Vogue tdv8 08MY poverty pack - wow

OK, so all the parts have arrived for the front suspension R&R and I'll have the RR on a lift tomorrow pm.

Does anyone have a handy tip that would make life easier when changing pretty much everything that moves?

Also, noticed that the rear brakes don't look so good, so have just received new Brembo discs and pads, (seriously not sure that they will fit) ordered via chassis/Vin number, we'll see.

Same time the EGR Delete Kit has also arrived, so might as well go ahead.

And no point putting all the wheels back on with those manky nuts, so will use a full set of 5 SS new ones per wheel.

Thanks,
Rich

With all the suspension parts ready to be installed, a new knuckle on each side sure would make life a lot easier. You wouldn't have to bother with loosening all the stuck tapers. They're £300 each though.
Will you drop the whole strut/hub? I'd assume assembly would be easyer on the work bench. 2007 L322 3.6 TDV8 Stornoway

Two things; 1 I can't afford to add another £300 per side for new hub assemblies.

2, whilst it may be easier to remove the whole assembly with all ball joints attached and just remove the chassis bolts then do the job on the bench, I can't because;

I'm not exactly a paying customer at my daughter and son in law's garage so we don't want to totally gum up an important set of lifts by totally immobilising the vehicle. Doing the job one component at a time more or less, means that in the event of an emergency breakdown we can bolt the wheels back on and free up the lift.

Cheers,
Rich

All was going well with disassembly until it came to separating the large bottom ball joint from the hub carrier. We didn't bother to split the arm from the ball joint as both we going to be replaced.

Removed chassis bolt no problem, removed 2 torx bolts no problem.

Try and get the ball joint out of the hub, not a cat in hell's chance; Much swearing and large hammer swinging with a relay team of mechanics and ever bigger drift bars, no way was this thing coming out.

Roll on next day, quick discussion, decision, remove hub from strut and then whack it whilst on the concrete. We left the ABS sensor in the hub and disconnected the wire from the box, old plastic sensor looked a risky removal.

Result ball joint out in about 3 hits.

The up side of removing the carrier is that I could clean and hone all the ball joint and bolt holes and also polish up the mating surfaces.

Onto the other side, don't even try to remove ball joint on the car, but remove hub carrier straight away. Ball joint out no problem. When hit hard on the ground.

The hub carrier bolts were decidedly unhelpful, nuts no problem but the bolts did not want to budge. (we do have HGV impact hammers.)

Top bolt no problem, but the bottom bolt refused to move despite an attack from both ends at once.

Figured out that the weight of the hub etc might be acting on the remaining carrier bolt, and so put a tall jack under the brake disc to take the strain.

Worked a treat, bottom hub bolt out.

Used same method on the other side.

Started to replace the first side, noticed some grunts from the rear end, turns out one of the mechanics had 30 mins before the end of day and had decided to start removing the rear calipers, pads and discs.

Car is still up in the air for the W/E and yes that lift is now well and truly 'gummed up', chucked the wheels in the back of the ML and brought them home for a spot of 'off car' cleaning.

Huge local Chants Marin Festival over the W/E, so we'll hopefully go again from Tuesday.

Rich