How to avoid problems when replacing ball joints on a Renault Logan

Repair / From Vladimir

• How to understand that the time for replacement has come: diagnostics
• What nuances should be taken into account when replacing it yourself?
• Tools for work
• How to replace: step-by-step guide

  How to change ball joints on a Renault Logan: video

Whether you like it or not, using Renault Logan on our roads will sooner or later lead you to the need to replace the ball joints on your car. Moreover, the more aggressive the driving style and the worse the quality of the roads, the faster this moment comes. “I went to a car service center and changed it, that’s it!” – perhaps, you will say, and you will be right in your own way. However, in this seemingly simple matter of replacement, there are several important nuances that you should know about in order to insure yourself against troubles and unreasonable costs. But let's talk about everything in order.

Purpose and design of Renault Logan ball joints

As the name itself suggests, a ball joint provides the steered wheel with a fulcrum and the ability to rotate it in a horizontal plane. Since the front suspension of Renault Logan, like most modern cars, is independent, the suspension arms are connected to the front wheel hubs by means of ball joints and steering knuckles (picture below).

Connection of the front suspension arm and steering knuckle Renault Logan

A ball joint is essentially a joint that consists of 4 main components:

• Solid forged body.
• Ball pin made of special grade steel. This allows you to achieve maximum strength of the product.
• Ball pin insert made of a special polymer material that reduces friction and wear of the contacting surfaces of the joint.
• Protective casing (boot) made of special elastic and temperature-resistant rubber.

This is what an assembled Renault Logan ball joint looks like.
When assembled, the ball joint is pressed into the hole of the suspension arm and is additionally secured with a retaining ring. The finger is fixed in the steering knuckle.

Fastening the Renault Logan ball joint in the steering knuckle

Consequences of a malfunction and methods for identifying it

If a Renault ball joint failure is not detected in a timely manner and no action is taken, then there is a high risk of failure of other, more serious components. The part is based on the body and finger. Due to driving on bad roads, the distance between these elements increases, and the finger begins to dangle in the hole. If you do not change the device in time, then at a certain moment the pin will jump out of the casing, and the wheel will move away from the hub part. From now on it is impossible to travel by car. The only way out is to evacuate to the nearest service station.

Before replacing the ball joint on Renault, check its functionality. The best option is to contact specialists who, using special devices, accurately diagnose the support and decide whether replacement is needed or not. If this is not possible or you just want to save money, then use these simple tips to check the ball:

• Invite a partner to help you check. At this stage, his task is to loosen the car, and yours is to listen carefully and try to identify extraneous sounds (knocks, squeaks).
• Ask your partner to squeeze the brake, then grab the wheel yourself (top and bottom), and then rock it. The presence of play indicates the appearance of a distance between the body and the ball pin. In such a situation, the faulty part should be replaced.
• Grasp the casing and finger of the device, then give the command to your partner to swing the wheel. The presence of play is a clear signal about the need to change the support.
• Raise the Renault on a lift or with a jack, and then inspect the part. If the ball boot is damaged, then replacement of the assembly is required. If this work is not done, then over time the dirt will reach the hinge, which will lead to large expenses in the future.

How to understand that the time for replacement has come: diagnostics

Firstly, subjectively:

• if, while driving on an uneven road at low speed, a knocking sound is heard in the area of ​​the front wheels;
• if you hear a creaking sound from the front of the car when turning the steering wheel;
• if the car moves unstably along a straight path.

Secondly, objectively:

• When inspecting the front wheels, uneven tire wear was discovered;
• if you grab the suspended front wheel from above and below, and then swing it in a vertical plane, you will feel a play, confirming the presence of a gap in the hinge;
• During an external inspection of the ball joint itself, cracks or ruptures of the boot were found, which means the service life has expired.

Indirect signs indicating possible wear of the ball are detected mechanical damage, deformation or failure of other components of the Renault Logan front suspension. This is especially true for checking levers, steering tips, stabilizer bars, as well as silent blocks, rubber seals, bushings, and anthers.

If the part is damaged, the balls must be replaced

On the one hand, if you lose sight of this, you will only speed up the “death” of the joint, and on the other hand, the presence of extraneous noise in the front suspension that is not related to the ball joint may push you to replace a still quite “healthy” part.

Another indirect indicator of the degree of ball wear is the total mileage of the car. Despite the fact that its declared safety margin is always more than 100 thousand km, we need to make allowances for our reality and boldly divide this figure by two. Thus, the answer to the question of how long the part lasts is: around 50 thousand mileage you need to be ready to change the ball joints.

Selecting a tool

In order to successfully replace the ball joints, you will need to bring to your disposal a tool kit consisting of:

• lifting device (you can limit yourself to a jack with a “safety net”);
• ring wrenches or heads, the size of which varies from “82 to “32”;
• naturally, ratchets and a crank;
• hammer;
• a metal brush and penetrating lubricant “WD-40” or its equivalent;
• a set of flat and shaped screwdrivers (Torx is possible);
• a thin chisel and a spindle (will allow you to knock out the mounting bolts);
• a set with mandrels for repressing new supports;
• devices for mounting and removing retaining rings.

Having the designated tool, you can easily replace it with a Renault Logan model.

What nuances should be taken into account when replacing it yourself?

First of all, you need to choose the manufacturers of spare parts that you will use in your work. Everything here is far from so simple, and much can only be achieved through experimentation.

What is most in demand among car enthusiasts:

• FEBI is the worst option out there. Lots of complaints.
• TRW is considered the original for these cars.
• Lemforder is a traditional German quality, many car enthusiasts are delighted with them, although many fakes have already appeared on the market.

Problems when paying with bank cards

Sometimes difficulties may arise when paying with Visa/MasterCard bank cards. The most common of them:

1. There is a restriction on the card for paying for online purchases
2. A plastic card is not intended for making payments online.
3. The plastic card is not activated for making payments online.
4. There are not enough funds on the plastic card.

In order to solve these problems, you need to call or write to the technical support of the bank where you are served. Bank specialists will help you resolve them and make payments.

That's basically it. The entire process of paying for a book in PDF format on car repair on our website takes 1-2 minutes.

If you still have any questions, you can ask them using the feedback form, or write us a letter at lvertel.com.

How to replace: step-by-step guide

The process of replacing ball joints occurs with the front wheels of the car suspended. It is most convenient to perform this work on a lift in a car repair shop.

There are two main ways to replace a ball joint:

• Replacement of the front suspension arm assembly,
• Replace only the damaged ball joint.

If the front suspension arms of your car are not damaged, and the rubber bushings and silent blocks do not need to be replaced, and besides, you have no desire to overpay, you can absolutely safely change only the ball joints. Therefore, we will further consider the second option.

1. After we have removed the front wheel from the side we need, we remove the caliper.

   
   Remove the wheel

2. We remove the bolt securing the ball pin in the steering knuckle.
3. After this, we pull the ball pin itself out of the hole in the steering knuckle. Here, check that when installing and dismantling the ball joint, there is a special plastic ring on top of the boot. Its presence is necessary because it will prevent the boot from rubbing against the fist, which means it will increase the service life of the hinge itself.
4. After this stage, we get access to pressing the ball out of the lever. Before pressing out, we pull off the boot and check for the presence of a retaining ring. We place a cup-frame of a larger diameter under the ball body and support it
5. Pressing out the ball joint. After the part is knocked out, it is necessary to carefully inspect the lever hole for cracks, tears and deformation. After cleaning the hole from dirt and traces of corrosion, we prepare it for the next stage.

   
   Pressing out the ball joint

6. Pressing in a new ball joint. To do this, we will need to select a wrench head for 34 or 36. We insert the ball joint into the hole in the front suspension arm and press it into place.

   
   Press in a new one

7. Assembly. At this stage, we assemble all the components in the reverse order.

It should be noted that if you nevertheless find any defects or damage on the front suspension arm itself, then it is necessary to replace it along with the ball joint.

How to change ball joints on a Renault Logan: video

I would like to draw your attention to one more thing. After replacing the ball joints, make sure that the tabs on the lock washer, which fits onto the ball joint nut and are bent onto the knuckle, are bent. If this is not done, then over time the nut may unscrew, and this is fraught with the risk that the ball pin may pop out during operation of the car. And at the most inopportune moment. We need to keep an eye on this.

Do-it-yourself restoration of ball joints

Repairing ball joints with polymer using the sjr method: how and why?

Removing the old one

While working, you cannot do without the following tools:

• hammer;
• two open-end wrenches for 16 and 18;
• socket wrench 30;
• chisels;
• key to 13;
• mandrels for depressing;
• flat screwdriver.

Replacement is carried out with the Renault Sandero suspension arm completely removed. In addition, for ease of installation, the caliper is also removed, which requires turning the wheel and unscrewing 2 bolts (during the first replacement, they can be very difficult to unscrew due to seating on the paint). Now follows:

1. Separate the pads using a screwdriver;
2. Remove the caliper (to protect the part, it is advisable to immediately hang it on a wire hook);
3. After lubricating the threaded part, unscrew the bolt that secures the support. If this does not work, you can try to knock out the fasteners using a chisel;
4. Pour lubricant into the resulting hole and hammer in a small wedge;
5. Pull the ball out of your fist.

After removing the part from the fist, it becomes possible to unpress it, the features of which can be seen in the videos, of which there are quite a lot on the Internet. It is performed in several stages:

1. Check for the presence of a retaining ring, which should be removed before unpressing;
2. Installing a support on a metal pipe;
3. Knocking out the ball.

During operation, it is important not to damage the boot, which will still be useful for a new spare part. If it is worn out, this element can also be replaced.