Hello all,

I was told by a mechanic that my ball joints are shot and I need to replace my front lower control arms. The quote was pretty high and I can save over $550 by doing it myself. I can't seem to find any write ups or videos for my mazda 5. Only the older models. Is it the same? If not does anyone know if it's a straight forward job or have any tips?

Thank you in advance

 

These two videos show how to do it:

This one is for a Mazda 3 but it is practically the same way to change LCA on the 5.

This is for first gen 5 but same for 2012, and maybe slightly easier to do in a 2012-newer on the right-hand side because the 19mm bolt comes right out without having to move AC components out of the way. The left-hand side still requires you to pry the transmission a bit in order to get the same bolt out. The guy on this video accidentally pulled out the axle from the tulip casing which delayed his work a couple of days, something to be careful about.

I just did mine and these videos helped a lot.

 

Any tips on prying the transmission? Thank you for all the info 👍

 

In the first video at 8:47 is one way of prying the transmission forward. They are removing the passenger side, but that will work also if you are removing the bolt from the driver side.

In my case I removed the bolt of the rear mount (either of these bolts really)


And then I used a 15inch flat pry bar ($4 at Harbor F). I placed the flat end up against the transmission and leveraged it on the LCA mounting frame and just pushed the edge of the transmission. This swings the tranny towards the front of the car, just enough to pull out the bolt, Careful not to get your fingers pinched. I don't have a pic with the pry bar but here's a pic with a screwdriver instead of a pry bar just to give an idea of how to position the bar. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the help. It wasn't as tough as I was expecting. I managed to take off all of the bolts without taking off motor mounts/raising transmission. I used a grinder on the one bolt that is hard to take out without raising the transmission just enough to take it off. It took me about 4 hours but I also replaced my serpentine belt, changed the oil and rotated my tires.