mk2 focus wishbone change

[2010powen]

hi does any body know how difficult the wishbones are to change and any advice? normally I wouldn't be fazed and just go at it but being the last ones I did were on a mk3 mondeo and was a absolute pig!!! I fought I would ask some advice first lol.

[TomsFocus]

Very easy, shouldn't be any problems tbh!

You'll need a 21mm spanner for the ball joint as there's no space for a socket - I had to make do with an adjustable which wasn't ideal.  And there are 2 sizes of ball joint, 18mm and 21mm, seems to be no sure way to tell without looking though, doesn't appear to be related to engine, spec or year.

[Micro]

8 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Very easy, shouldn't be any problems tbh!

You'll need a 21mm spanner for the ball joint as there's no space for a socket - I had to make do with an adjustable which wasn't ideal.  And there are 2 sizes of ball joint, 18mm and 21mm, seems to be no sure way to tell without looking though, doesn't appear to be related to engine, spec or year.

Clean the threads and soak in penetrating oil before undoing the ball joint nut! We had a royal pain with one side of mine, which was much more corroded than the other, and it took a good half hour with a hammer and spanner to get it off. 

Allegedly the circlips around the ball joint allude to the size, yellow for 18mm and blue for 21mm, but I cannot actually recall which manufacturer I read this from.

[Dee_82]

the colour thing is correct and it appears to remain true on all the aftermarket jobs ive seen.

on the scale of how hard is it, its actually pretty easy, apart from the hard to undo nut! but once that little chap is off id give it a 3  out of 10. 

[Dave1981]

How did u get the front drivers side bolt out? I'm doing mine soon and the front bolt for the arm on the driver's side has the air con pipes in front of it and there isn't nuff room for a socket. I'm guessing a long ring spanner is needed so can get some leverage on it. 

[TomsFocus]

3 minutes ago, Dave1981 said:

How did u get the front drivers side bolt out? I'm doing mine soon and the front bolt for the arm on the driver's side has the air con pipes in front of it and there isn't nuff room for a socket. I'm guessing a long ring spanner is needed so can get some leverage on it. 

Ah, you must have a proper engine?  Seen a few complaints of that on here but there's nothing in the way on the 1.6 diesel lol.  I've read there is a pipe bracket that you can loosen/remove and push them out of the way.  It's a long bolt so if you can't get a socket there, you won't get the bolt out.

[Dave1981]

yeah it's the 2.0 petrol, I've got new bolts and they r quite long lol..

[Micro]

I impact gunned mine off (as stef would say, it ugga dugga dugga dugga'd for a good 20 seconds before coming loose), but as stated there isn't stuff in front of it on my 1.6.

[2010powen]

Hi all been a long time since been on. Wishbones were in fact very easy to do and yes there are 2 different sizes 18 and 21. The manufacturer I used didn't colour code to what I had read in the hanyes manual so I quick call to suppliers and a quick measure and I was good to go

[Glosterboy]

A few years too late, but I stumbled across this thread when I was looking for an answer about getting the bolt out of the drivers side bush on a 2007 2.0l. I discovered that you can simply remove the metal plate that covers the bottom pulley. It’s only held in with a few 10mm bolts. Gives plenty of room. You just have to gently lever the metal pipe out of the way using the union joint and it slips straight in. Hope this helps somebody.