Hi all,

So the rubber bush on the passenger side control arm has decided to crack open start spewing grease everywhere. Wonderful. Recently dropped the front suspension and together with my 18" wheels I suspect the extra pressure and less travel has killed it. Might also explain why my recently replaced tie-rod end is also stuffed.

Anyway, just wondering any suggestions and/or experiences people have had with removing these ball joints?
Would I better off replacing the control arm?
If needs be, my mate has a press I can use, if I must, but would rather do it home if possible with a decent sized hammer and a tool. Seen it done before at home but that was for a different car.

Also does anyone know where I can get a replacement for a reasonable price? I'd probably prefer rubber as this is a daily driver some track car (it's a magna lol). I suppose you can't buy new control arms from the usual sca/repco/bursons etc?

Cheers for the help folks!

Don't have any experience replacing the ball joints; all I know is it's not recommended due to the possibility of damaging the control arm. I've just had both lower control arms replaced on my AWD. Got them from the local Mitsubishi dealer (had to be ordered) for just under $220 each trade price. That's the complete arm including bushes.

Don't have any experience replacing the ball joints; all I know is it's not recommended due to the possibility of damaging the control arm. I've just had both lower control arms replaced on my AWD. Got them from the local Mitsubishi dealer (had to be ordered) for just under $220 each trade price. That's the complete arm including bushes.

Thanks for the response mate!

I didn't think the control arm was so weak. Looks pretty sturdy and thick though but it may be hollow inside.

$220 each is a bit more than I was hoping it would cost to replace. Does it come all three bushes (rear arm mounts and ball bearing) ?

Might see if the usual auto part suppliers have them. Can't find any available on rock auto unfortunately, and postage would probably be killer anyway.

It's not that thick. There's a piece welded to the underside of the main component to give it strength. It comes with all the bushes and bolts straight in. I didn't try any other parts suppliers but it might be worth a try.

Google Eziauto Parts and go through their on-line catalogue. I've found them quite good.

Don't replace the joint,get a used arm if you need to.

The section the joint goes into can stretch and would be horrible if it let go, have seen this before

Thanks for the help everyone! Much appreciated!


It's not that thick. There's a piece welded to the underside of the main component to give it strength. It comes with all the bushes and bolts straight in. I didn't try any other parts suppliers but it might be worth a try.

Good to know. $220 is the price to beat :P but at leas it comes with all the bushings and bearings. Easy bolt on.


Google Eziauto Parts and go through their on-line catalogue. I've found them quite good.

Thanks for the site! Lots of parts. Now to track down magna/diamante ones. Car needs a few parts so we'll see how their priced as well. Part numbers seem to be tricky to find so I'll have to go manufacturers websites and go from there.


Don't replace the joint,get a used arm if you need to.

The section the joint goes into can stretch and would be horrible if it let go, have seen this before

I see then. Thanks.

I'm usually up for 2nd hand parts for many things, but I'm thinking that with the lowered suspension and bigger wheels, it's could be a matter of time before I kill anouther well used control arm. Most 3rd magna's would be, at least, around the 120-160km mark, and my car is at 160km so I'm concerned they could also split in a short time as mine did if I use a control arm form cars like that.

Can't believe the arm is so weak that they stretch. Scary thought if they did let go, with nothing else to hold on the strut the damage would be catastrophic.

Magna PI, with Eziauto the manufacturers catalogues are on line or linked to eziauto. You click on the 'open book' and you will be led to the manufacturers catalogue. Once found, cut & paste the part number then close the book / catalogue and place into eziautos search engine. They have priced all the parts and you can then see the cost. If the price is OK, put it into your 'cart'. I've used eziauto a few times and they are quite helpful. They even reply to emails at 10.30 at night. They have also sourced parts which I couldn't find elsewhere.

Thanks for that Peter - works a treat. Some things are really cheap which is great.

Well today on my day off I did some work to replace this ball joint.

Managed to pick off a lower control arm from a wreck with only 80,000kms on the clock, but it seems it got damaged in transit and the ball joint boot cover is split with a small 2mm tear. I've used some rubber cement for the time being until I get the opportunity to replace it again. Although its only a 2mm tear it's better than my stock ball joint rubber boot which was completely sheared in half.

I've managed to pop out the original ball joint from the original control arm without much trouble. Didn't realise the circlip at the beginning so it was bashed with the hammer while the circlip was attached. Once I actually removed it popped out quite easily - I was expecting a lot more difficulty than I had.
I'd like to actually replace the ball joint but I'm not sure if the original control arm's structural integrity could've been damaged.
How weak is weak with these control arms?
Surely a bit of a bash with a hammer on the old ball joint, isn't enough for the new ball joint to not seat properly and come loose again?

Has anyone actually replaced the lower control arm ball joint at home before? Any bad experiences?

Mate you need to listen to me here. I have seen this before


For starters you don't bash out joints with hammers
Second. Think about why mits don't sell the joint.... Because they did not design the arm for the joint to come out

The original joint is press fit. The arm is stretched and when you remove the old joint then install a new joint then the arm will not hold the new joint. It will come loose and end up breaking the arm. I have seen this too many times

Steering and braking you don't cheap out on if you value your life and the life of others

Mate you need to listen to me here. I have seen this before


For starters you don't bash out joints with hammers
Second. Think about why mits don't sell the joint.... Because they did not design the arm for the joint to come out

The original joint is press fit. The arm is stretched and when you remove the old joint then install a new joint then the arm will not hold the new joint. It will come loose and end up breaking the arm. I have seen this too many times

Steering and braking you don't cheap out on if you value your life and the life of others

Thanks for the reponse Mal. Much appreciated.

I hear you and I'm not trying to ignore your advice, just weighting up a few options :)

I'm going off the advice of others as well who have replaced their ball joints for thier own cars but they weren't magna's so that's why I've asked here as well just to check in case you cannot do the same with the magna.

I was under the impression you can buy the ball joint from mitsubishi? Apparently someone said they bought it for $25 in an old thread I found in the archives.

Interesting how the arm stretches. The metal on the control arm around the ball joint appears quite thin indeed. That's a serious concern, like I said, a single wishbone setup would mean serious damage if the bearing seared.
Funnily enough there's no instructions on how to replace the ball joint in the service manual!

I don't like to cheap out at the expense of safety so I'll stick with a full new control arm (either new or second hand off a low km car)

The only annoying thing here is that the actual ball joint is fine (no noises/knocking etc), rather the dust cover/rubber boot is split. The old ball joint dust cover was seared off clean in half so I imagine the ball joint probably got full of water & dirt and it would only be a matter of time before it would split/break but the new one is still pretty still sealed. Can you buy the dust cover itself and replace that? That's my problem, not the ball joint itself.
I'd imagine the aftermarket ball joint dust covers wouldn't fit straight on, so i'd need to look down the genuine path?

Had new ball joints pressed in by a work shop on a second gen pair of arms, with no problems.
The amount of pressure needed when pressing in a new one determines if the arm is ok to use. You would need to find a workshop competent in doing this type of work.
If it moves at all in use the circlip will retain it but the hole in the control arm will just get stretched as the ball joint moves around. Potentially noise and sloppy steering results - and then the control arm breaks.

(And yes, bashing it out or in with a hammer - with or without the circlip on - is pretty much guaranteed to wreck the control arm. It's one of a number of jobs you SHOULDN'T do at home. I paid $40 to get the old pair pressed out and new pressed in.)

You say the ball joints are fine, have you done the "torque needed to turn" test as in the manual? It's the only way to tell accurately. New ones are available from Mitsu AFAIK or any parts store. (Guess which are cheaper?)
Genuine dust covers are not available AFAIK. Some after market Commodore ones are a good fit, take your old one in to a parts shop to match it. Get some high quality grease in there before you put new covers on.

I don't know if the third gen arms are lighter in construction than the second gen ones.

If you are in any doubt at all, ignore the above. Play it safe, buy new ones.

Thanks for your input and experience Max. Much appreciated :)

I'll try and call a shop or two that would be confident enough to insert the bearing. How would they know how much pressure is too much?
My concern is that if they do it wrong, the effect of poor workmanship takes time to come to light (esp since the car is barely driven nowdays). e.g. If the bearing seared off in a year due to control arm breaking then I couldn't go back to the workshop and demand them pay the $1000's in damage to my car.

Looks like for the magna this isn't something DIYable, seen plenty of vids and people talking about doing it DIY for other cars, so it must be a case of YMMV depending on the car.

Haven't really done that test, but like I said, it makes no noises while driving (even under hard conditions) - car's tend to make a noise when something is wrong!
I'd like to do that test - is there some special tool you need to do that test with? I'm thinking of setting my torque wrench to 10 and 20nm and then trying to see if it clicks (and therefore see if its over or under that value) - can I use a deep socket on a fully tightened nut to test?

Do you know which dust covers are a good fit? Any way to ensure they stay on well? (zipties/hoseclaps lol!)
I've seen some aftermarket bearings on ebay - they don't look to be exactly the same as the genuine ones, my guess is that the covers don't fit. I'm thinking of buying a new ball joint and then just using the new ball joint's dust cover to put on my current ball joint, so I need the rubber boot to be a perfect fit. Will have to see how expensive a new ball joint is (if you can buy them)

From the manual:
BALL JOINT STARTING TORQUE CHECK
Standard value: 10.0–22.0 Nm
You simply put the nut on, wind it down to the bottom. Then put your torque wrench on 22 Nm and see if it turns the stud of the ball joint. If it does, go down on your clicky setting. If it still turns with less than 10 Nm, it is worn out. Lot easier to do if you have a bar type torque wrench.

Just looked at the manual again and there are no instructions for replacing the ball joints. This suggests to me that the whole arm is replaced instead. A good workshop can tell you if it is possible, maybe ask at the Mitsu parts counter what they do in their workshop?

I've had ball joints replaced on older Mitsus in the past, if I remember correctly the gauge on the press pushing in the new one needs to read a minimum of 3,000 kg, higher is better.

Perhaps on the 3rd gen it's a matter of throwing the old arms out and putting in new ones? I'd ask around, starting with the Mitsu dealer.

Awesome Max. Thanks.

Tooooooo easy! Just what I thought.

Will attempt probably on the weekend and see how I go. I'll try both ball joints for good measure.

In the meantime, I need to track down a ball joint boot cover.

Awesome Max. Thanks.





In the meantime, I need to track down a ball joint boot cover.
I also need a ball joint cover, I ripped mine whilst using one of those fork type ball joint separators. That was before I figured out the hammer trick.
I don't really want to replace the whole control arm when all I have is a slightly ripped rubber boot!

Well for those watching at home, it turns out you can order the complete ball joint and even the rubber boot on its own from Mitsubishi spare parts. I was quoted $75 for a ball joint and only $22 for the boot. As Mal said, $200 for the control arm. After speaking with the service team, they didn't have much to say on the issue of the control arm stretching as they've never actually done a ball joint replacement as labour makes the job the same cost as having a new control arm fitted.

I've looked at aftermarket ball joints available at Repco & Burson, and the shape of the boot are different to the stock magna ones, so if you only have a split rubber dust cap/boot then you need to get a genuine replacement boot.

The only thing to note is that if dust/dirt etc has made its way through the opening into the ball joint, then it needs to be replaced as it can ruin the ball joint, so in that case you're better off replacing the control arm assembly instead.

Thankfully the split on my dust cap was very small (2mm in length) and I used rubber cement to hold it together for a little while. Car hasnt been driven since last weekend so it will be fine.

I will be replacing the ball joint dust boot (keeping factory ball joint) this weekend and update on how it goes.

Any recommendations for grease? Currently got some Castrol High temp bearing (HTB) grease in the house. That should suffice?

If is a genuine joint is pre greased

But as I said mate, I have seen too many of these go really wrong, seems that even though I do this for a living you still decide to do this which is crazy so all the best with this, really hope it does not come to bite you on your ass as it has for others including myself the first and only time I did a ball joint replacement in one of my own cars. I was lucky as I heard the knocking before it came away all together but many are not

I just realised that I wrote that Im replacing thr ball joint instead of only the ball joint dust cover. Sorry for the confusion.

I've definitely taken your advice on board Mal and hence why im only replacing the faulty dust/boot cover and not removing the factory fitted ball joint on the control arm I picked off a wreck with only 88000kms on it. Took a bit of work to get the control arm off the car and it seems I made a small tear in the boot in the process. Not 100% sure but I dont remember seeing a tear when I first inspected it. Will test it like the manual suggests and see if I find any dirt in it. I'll also keep an eye on that wheel over the next few months for any unusual noises/movement.

I just wanted to ask what grease should I put on the existing ball joint before I replace the rubber boot on it? Castrol htb grease ok?

Thanks again for the advice Mal. Much appreciated. I do really value your input so I don't end up with a catastrophic failure at a later date.

Cheers also to Madmax for your advice.

You want the same grease as is used in CV joints, Castrol LMM. Its a really thick black grease.