Hello all. I apologise if this is posted in the wrong spot or has been answered before, but I got lost searching the forum..

I needed to replace a lower ball joint on my 2001 S-Type and took the vertical link in to a local mechanic who had a hard time pressing out the old one. He told me that he ended up heating the vertical link to replace the ball joint.
I have put the car back together but am worried that heating the vertical link may have fractured the metal in some way and I'm a bit worried about taking the car for a long drive just incase...

Am I crazy, or is it quite ok to heat these up to replace stubborn ball joints?

 

Well it comes down to the amount of heat but in general no you should NOT be heating the Aluminum suspension pieces to press the ball joint out.

You are the first person that I have heard of that needed to use heat?

I am on the Lincoln LS boards where changing the lower ball joints are very common. They do mention that it sometimes requires a spacer to be made as the arm is hard to align properly when it's in the press.

Which is why I think Jaguar and Ford both recommend replacing the entire arm and do not supply the ball joints separately.

I don't think I would worry about the arm fracturing as much as losing strength and failing under load. Or is that what you meant?
.
.
.

 

I gather my mechanic would only heated around the ball joint enough using a oxy acetylene while it had the weight of the press on it..

For some reason every nut and bolt on the front end had been put together with Loctite..even the ball joints...

I am concerned about it failing under load only if the heating process caused any damage to the arm..

So would you recommend replacing the arm with another one?

Thanks!

 

It's a toss up I guess. If it was me I would try to get another used one as a back up but with used you don't know how it was treated either?
.
.
.

 

Yes your right, another one would be handy but as you say it could have been treated the same way...Oh well I guess I will have to take my chance and see if holds up..

Cheers!

 

I would say it all depends if the mechanic gave it a gentle warm up to help get things moving or went to town and gave it a good roasting.
Have you spoken to hm about your concerns?

 

I spoke to him today and he assured me he only heated enough for the ball joint to come free while it was in the press..
I usually do all my mechanical myself and only go to this mechanic if Im really stuck as he is more a specialist on tractors/farm machinery and dabbles in European vehicles no one else is game enough to touch..
By no means is this mechanic as Hill-billy as he can fabricate parts that you just can buy any more. So I do trust what he says, and I gather if he felt the arm would have been compromised due to heat he would not have heated it in the first place.

I guess I am just being paranoid about things I don't know about.

Cheers!