How to replace wishbones on a MK1 Focus
I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here, there is a great video by 1A Auto here
However there is one mistake in this video and two tips I want to share with you which I think will make the job much easier.
First of all my tips
- Break loose all the bolts you will be undoing before you pull them out of the wishbone. Some of the bolts will be incredibly tight, you don’t want to have half the wishbone bolts out, only to find you can’t release the last one.
- Which brings me on to the second tip. If you find you can’t get a bolt to break loose use more leverage. Still no joy? Add more leverage again. The rear inside bolt (the big one) I found to be amazingly tight, after faffing around for an hour I rigged up a tool with two metal bars joined together to give a total leverage length of around a meter (3 feet). This just about did the job.
Focus Wishbone Replacement – The Mistake
At 9:37 they insert the bolts for the front bush first. This is a mistake. Doing this will make it extremely difficult or impossible to get the rear inner bolt located (rear bush bracket). You can see where they glossed over this mistake at 10:30. The bracket goes from being in the impossible position to miraculously all installed one second later.
If you install the front bolt first you won’t be able to adjust the rear bracket over the holes in the subframe.
Install the bolt in the knuckle as shown, then do the rear outside bolt (rear bush bracket). Tighten the outside bolt and this will pull down the inside side of that bracket. As you are doing this, gently knock the wishbone into the car until the inside bolt goes through the hole on the bracket, then put the nut on. Only then put the front bolt through.
It’s a small point, but it might save you half an hour of failed fanangaling.
These tips come from changing a pair of front Focus wishbones. If I had known them at the start it would have saved me a hour’s work. I hope it helps you!
