Originally Posted by Don B

I have replaced the front upper control arms on several X350s and X358s and I can't recall a single car on which the control arm bolts could have been withdrawn without removing the air spring/damper units. I think your only chance of replacing the upper control arms without removing the shocks is if you have converted your air suspension to conventional coil spring units and the springs are sufficiently narrower than the original air units.

But what's the big deal? The air spring/dampers are fairly easy to remove. Just disconnect the air hose and ECATS electrical connector, disconnect the anti-sway bar link, remove the lower shock bolt, remove three of the four nuts that secure the air spring to the suspension tower and loosen but do not remove the fourth nut, step on the lower control arm and lift the bottom of the shock over the arm, then while holding the air spring/damper with one hand, reach up with the other and remove the remaining nut, then lower the unit out of the car.

Originally Posted by rf69

Awesome! thanks Don I really appreciate it. That is actually the answer I was looking for

Originally Posted by rf69

On the other hand my problem are the Ball Joins not the control arm bushings. If I can find a way to replace them without getting the control arms out that would be great.

Originally Posted by Don B

As far as I can recall, the upper ball joints are not replaceable, or at least not with standard shop equipment, which is one of the reasons we all just replace the upper control arm/ball joint assemblies. The other reason is that it's not easy to determine the condition of your upper control arm bushings until you remove them, and by the time you've done that you may as well replace them.

Originally Posted by rf69

You are right Don, I would have to buy the ball join extractor and the ball joins for both sides and with that money I can just buy the control arms from ebay or Amazon.

Originally Posted by NDW

You do not have to unbolt or remove the front shocks to replace the control arms. I did mine about 4 months ago. The front sway bar bushings are not hard if you have another person helping you. My car was on my lift, had my son underneath holding the socket on the bolts as I tightened the bushing holding straps from above with long extensions. As I remember, there was a cross bar above the sway bar that had to be taken out first, and you don't want to confuse the four bolts holding the cross bar with the four bolts holding the bushing straps. They are slightly different threads.

Originally Posted by Dave Della Sciucca

hey buddy-are you sure you do not have to take out the shocks--