S1 Front Ball Joints

[chingers]

Have detected play in one of the front ball joints on my S1; at this point I'm not sure whether it's top or bottom which is the problem. The parts list gives SAAB 900 for the top and Lada 1200 for the bottom. Has anyone had any experience in this area and can provide me with any information for when I head for my local parts dealer on Saturday morning.
Cheers
Chris P.

[johno]

Chris,

It is very unusual for the bottom ball joint to go. The top is from a Saab as you suggest.

To see whether you have play in the ball joint you need to jack the wheel off the ground and place you hands at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock and move it backwards and forwards like you would for checking for a wheel bearing. If it is bad then you should see/feel the movement in whichever balljoint it is that has gone.

Cheers

Mark

[chingers]

Mark,
Thanks for the info. A quick poke around earlier suggests you were correct about it being the top joint so I shall start taking it out this evening and tomorrow off to the parts shop I shall go.
Thanks again and have a good hols.
Chris P.

[shpub]

Compare it with the original as SAAB have chnaged this part and some fit... and some don't. Not a problem for a Saab but embarassing for a TVR.

Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk

[chingers]

Thanks for the additional help Steve. Unfortunately you were right in your statement. The unit I bought was a Lockheed TC125 and in the shop it looked identical but when I fitted it into the wishbone the body of the ball joint is a couple of mm wider and it wouldn't go into the wishbone far enough to achieve the original camber setting. As I had already fitted the taper I couldn't return it but by putting a small champfer on the inside edges of the wishbone managed to achieve the original setting. This is not ideal by any means and my recommendation would be that these units are not the best to use. If I come up with an alternative part better suited to this application I'll post it on here.
Thanks again.
Chris P.

[mel-S3]

Wanted to update this old thread to aid anybody changing the top ball joints. Just replaced mine, as mentioned above there is a problem with the fit of some SAAB 900 ball joints - even the original ones from SAAB are too big. A perfect fit is Q&H part No. QSJ1004S.

Hope this helps

[HarryW]

mel-S3 said:

Wanted to update this old thread to aid anybody changing the top ball joints. Just replaced mine, as mentioned above there is a problem with the fit of some SAAB 900 ball joints - even the original ones from SAAB are too big. A perfect fit is Q&H part No. QSJ1004S. Hope this helps

Can you send the details to the S Wales TVRCC region here they maintain an updated S parts list. If you haven't seen it before it can be useful and obviously the more acurate the update the better the list.

Harry

[s27]

HarryW said:

mel-S3 said: Wanted to update this old thread to aid anybody changing the top ball joints. Just replaced mine, as mentioned above there is a problem with the fit of some SAAB 900 ball joints - even the original ones from SAAB are too big. A perfect fit is Q&H part No. QSJ1004S. Hope this helps Can you send the details to the S Wales TVRCC region here they maintain an updated S parts list. If you haven't seen it before it can be useful and obviously the more acurate the update the better the list. Harry

Info has been added to list.

Cheers.

SP