I am having to replace the gearbox on my fabia 1.2 and have a few questions.

1) how the hell are u supposed to hold the driveshafts still so u can undo the bolts on the inner cv joint?

2) how does one seperate the lower arm balljoint i have tried three different types of splitter (fork sissor and cup) and none of them seem to fit right

3)the offside steering arm ball joint nut was badly rusted i cleaned it up with plenty of wd40 and wire brush and worked the nut back and forth to clear the threads as it came off but the balljoint split halfway through what size is the allen key needed to stop the balljoint spinning while i take the nut off the rest of the way... 5mm is too small and 5.5mm is too big!!

sorry for the barrage of questions

Coop

1) get somebody to put their foot hard on the brakes.

2) Just undo the bolts and slide the balljoints out the end of the track control arm.. Then if you still need to split the joint you an get better access to it. On ones which are really stubborn I use a long pitman am wedge fork and sheer brute force.. I've had a few where it wouldn't budge and resorted to using a hydraulic press to muller it out.

3) use an impact wrench on the nut. Or if you haven't got access to one. Turn your cup type joint splitter upside down and use it to force the tapered pin on the balljoints into the hub carrier which will hold it enough so you can undo the nut with a spanner. Failing that you may be able to get a pair of long nose mole grips on the pin to retain it.. Often t he Allen key hole just rounds off when you try to counter hold the pin anyway.

thanks for the reply. i shall try what u suggested. It just annoys the hell out of me that even the basic servicing/lubrication hasnt been bothered with. The car was supposed to be registered disabled at some point (the garage i bought it from unregistered it) half the servicing that had been ticked off in the book wasnt done and just absoloutly no attention to detail.

Maybe im being finicky but whats it take while u have the wheels off or the car in the air just give the susspention nuts/balljoints a quick clean off and spray of grease?

Coop

The old saying goes.. Time is money!

To be honest there's no need to grease up any of the bolts, it won't make the blindest bit of difference anyhow because all the road filth will just stick to it. But you are right though, it irritates me when garages tick off stuff and charge for stuff that hasn't been done

ok still stuck with the stearing arm ball joint. Tried everything that teflon tom suggested and tried using a jack to force the taper back into the hub and it still spins.

all out of ideas now

coop

has anyone got any other ideas on how to deal with the trackrod end nut as i need to have the box out by tomorrow lunch time!!

thanks coop

ok update time....

i have finaly managed to get the nut done all the way back up and have discovered the reason for all my woe. Some bodging edjit has forced an allen key that was too big into the top of the balljoint spline and spread it so the nut now wont come off.

Do i have to undo the trackrod end and remove it from the hub to get the driveshafts out or can one do it with the trackrod in sittue?

thanks

coop

If I'm honest I can't remember for certain on those, but I would say it can be done without removing the track rods, it can be done on most cars anyway irrespective of what the Haynes book of lies tells you.

aside from this, there's actually no need to split the balljoints or unbolt the driveshaft form the the hub at all if you are only changing the gearbox, there's enough play on the inner cv joints to simply undo them at the gearbox end and pull it out if you turn the steering to full lock... Sorry to be ther bearer of bad news after you have gone to that much trouble.

Was just about to write that you won't need to take the shafts out of the hubs..

You don't really need to remove the track rod ends either..

no worries the state of the balljoint gives me somthing to moan about for the next couple of weeks till everyone gets fed up and i change it.

next question i have though... i have carefully marked the position of the driveshaft to the gearbox flange but obviously as i am going to swap the gearbox my marks wont corrispond. is this another haynes fallicy or is there another way of making them line up

Edited 8 November, 201114 yr by cooper12000

no worries the state of the balljoint gives me somthing to moan about for the next couple of weeks till everyone gets fed up and i change it.

next question i have though... i have carefully marked the position of the driveshaft to the gearbox flange but obviously as i am going to swap the gearbox my marks wont corrispond. is this another haynes fallicy or is there another way of making them line up

I'd say that Haynes is putting forward what might be seen as "best practise" - but in reality, and obviously with a different gearbox this does not matter a bit.

Track rod end nuts - yes that takes me back a few years, I had never ever come up against such a simple job being difficult due to design and crap materials - and that was on a 4 or 5 year old Polo 9N. After the hex recess rounded off due to the crappy soft steel opening out or maybe due to the thin wall at that point, I ended up buying extra nut splitters - they failed too but I could use them as wrenches (a bit)and they did open the nut up a bit, I also bought a new tap and die set to clean up the threads - still no success, so lots of trips to tool shops over the New Year period (not too easy) before I sussed out that the main issue here was really crap rotting steel and the nut having nylon locking element that hardened harder than really hard stuff. So, my final fix was to cut the top section of the nut by making a few horizontal then vertical cuts - then the nut unscrewed quite easily (as long as the taper was kept "in" by placing a jack under it.

Edited 8 November, 201114 yr by rum4mo

i have carefully marked the position of the driveshaft to the gearbox flange but obviously as i am going to swap the gearbox my marks wont corrispond. is this another haynes fallicy or is there another way of making them line up

on some cars the bolts are offset on the gearbox drive flanges so they will only fit one way but it doesn't really matter on vw group gearboxes because the inner Rose is symmetrical... I guess they are doing the 'best practice' thing like you say

I've got a fabia Haynes manual somewhere lurking about here, I might dig it out and read it up.....

Edit: double post