So I'm on my 6th day of working on this. Some of that time has been cleaning up the brake rotor hubs maybe a day? But all the rest has been spent farting around with these damn ball joint boots and I've got 2 on and a third half way that will now have to come off because for some reason it's the most difficult and now the smaller end has folded under the boot and won't come back out. I spent 45 minutes just getting the bigger end onto the groove. The other two weren't this much trouble? Not sure why but I'll give it till the end of the day and If I'm not done then that's it. I'm going to just buy the control arms instead. That would have been much easier and at $165 each for the control arms

Welsh Enterprises, Inc - Jaguar XJ (2010 & up) Rear Suspension Parts - Upper Wishbone - RHR - S-Type XK XJ XF

this was a really stupid idea. At the moment I'm having a ton of trouble with the tie rod end version and at least that one is at a decent working height when sitting on a stool. But I did the upper one yesterday and that one was a real beotch because I cannot get into a good working position (car is on jack stands) so that both eyes cannot see clearly what I'm working on. So part of the fender is partially in my view in one eye and that causes it to not focus properly on the part. It's torture. If the car was on a lift it would be easier of course but these are really fiddly things to get assembled and sealed with wire. The wire wrapping is actually the straight forward part but it requires multiple steps.

This repair reminds me a lot of the HID bulb replacement procedure where someone said he could replace them leaving the light fixtures in the car and that it took 1/2 hour. Yeah sure ...



So save yourself the horrors of these very greasy hard to fit boots and just buy the GD arms and tie rod ends. Better yet have it done by a good garage.

 

Words the dealers, & mechanics love to hear. Too bad your so far away, the rings really do come off pretty easily. One or two on old parts that were worn out, and trashed, the rings were still good on, but not needed, they went along to the dump.

 

Oh I can get the big rings off easily enough WO damage but getting them back on is another matter. But the small rings require bending to get them off as they are NOT SPRING STEEL. I think the wire wrap will provide a 360 degree uninterrupted clamp that a wire tie simply cannot.

So you used no retaining rings at all? Well yeah that would make it easier, a lot easier but ... I have to tell you that I've put 4 or these things on now and everyone has been different. One went on with no issues with the large end staying nicely in the groove while I wire tied it and then pushed the small end over and wire tied that. But that's the only one that did. Every other one has been quite difficult always in a different way too. So I can't say which is the best approach. It's good that I had ordered 2 extra boots because when one them just would not seat properly I had to take it off again and ended up punching a hole in it to do so.

Maybe it's the type of boots I ordered? These are the "poly" ones and they do seem a lot more durable than the originals.

Anyway the front is done now.

Now I have the two in the rear and I'm dreading that because they're both on the top and I have even less room (height) in the rear because this car is very difficult to get up on jack stands safely and I don't dare try raising it any higher. The factory designated support points don't work on mine in the rear as one side is covered with a plastic cover and has a large cable underneath it.

A 4 arm lift really would make this a much easier job. I have a drive on lift and it's occupied so my car is getting worked on in the paver driveway. Not ideal.

If only I could lift this car by it's differential or anything centered in the rear then I could use the factory standard rear jacking points and put jack stands under them.
But that appently might damage something.

 

Was wondering did you take your joints bottom portion off? You will probably need a small ball joint spliter tool to do it. Just remembered showing a friend, how you had to split it, to get the condom as i call them on, otherwise no go. Look at a set of upper arms, for the ball portion on the arm, that fits, into the knuckle, so it can pivot when you turn, the wheels. Hence the name ball joint.

 

My ball joints don't need a splitter to be removed from the upright. They just unbolt in a single piece remaining attached to upper arm and tie-rod as a press fit.

 

The joint comes apart but not easily. It is a ball looking portion, with the stem sticking out, on the bottom, all the rubber portion is inside of the joint. The ball is riding in the knuckle, so all that you see is the boot. The ball portion is flat on top when taken apart. After showing my buddy W T F i was doing, & why. He was a bit embarrassed. Remembering just how many ball type joints, he had replaced in his life, but never looked to see how they function. But he had never seen new boots available. So why bother i told him. I only knew because of studying how to get it on without tearing the boot, on another joint b4. He sure felt a lot better, about things, as did i. After all he WAS there to help me.

 

I followed the procedure as documented by NHDOC so no seperation of the ball from the socket was done.

Getting the smaller end over the flange that bolts up to the upright is not the problem though as I've said I have tried getting boots on 4 times and I cannot say which is the best and fastest way to accomplish this but 1/2 hour to replace even one boot is a complete joke. As is reusing the smaller, non spring steel ring.

In the end I tried the lower bigger ring twice and decided it was a lot easier to just put the SS safety wire on. No herculean efforts or massive amounts of curse words required for that. Lots of swearing at times to get the boots on and stay in place.

It's just nowhere as easy as I thought it would be by reading these threads.

I don't understand why replacing the entire upper arm requires removing the spring etc. but I haven't really looked into it either.

Hopefully the two uppers in the rear go much easier though I can't see why they would?