[1and1]

Working from home till next month, seems like a great time to put the 1er down for some much needed front end maintenance!

Today I've replaced the tie rods, including fresh boots, and am /finally/ getting around to installing my 1m front control arms. My right side (passenger side here in the US) tie rod was seized, and I wasn't going to do the control arms until that was corrected. Good to go now!

In the past I've always had issues separating ball joints from the knuckle, but these, all six of them, came apart very gracefully! They popped just while removing the nut! Always had to use a pickle fork or other destructive means in the past... Alas, it wasn't to be that easy- Every one of the six fought to get past the last few threads when removing the nut. You know, the threads that have been exposed to the elements for the last hundred thousand miles & eleven/twelve years...

Even using an impact gun I was running the nut up & down, then chasing the threads with a file, then hitting it with the impact again... lots of pb blaster and hours of soak time didn't matter.

So, at this point I've got both tie rods complete and control arms on the drivers side done. Tomorrow I'll finish the passenger side control arms, the headlight adjuster, then put the suspension under load and finish torque the control arms. I'll finish by setting the toe back to where it was before- negative 1/16th. That should hold me till a real alignment...