Important - Top Ball Joints

[Transmitter Man]

Fresh in on the wires from my restorers:

"I have a problem with the top ball joints you supplied.

They do not have the correct amount of articulation and neck out when the front suspension goes into bump.

I have checked them with an original from Henrys car.

The original joint is elongated to give the correct movement. Your joint is round inside. And so necks out.

Not sure where you got them. But i hope people are not fitting this joint to their cars.

Can you get some proper joints?."

Now it's been a good while since I purchased these I'll have to go back through my receipts to find out from where.

I'm sure the more technically minded among you know exactly what the deal is here so, where can I find some new top ball joints of the correct type and are they of any other car other than a 1987 420 SEAC?

Phil
420 SEAC

[voltage_maxx]

Phil, front suspension is Mk4/5 cortina with Granada Mk2 hubs.
I would therefore assume balljoints are from either of those cars and should have bargain prices attached to suit!

[Transmitter Man]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for that. I knew our cars were hybrids made up out of scrap Cortinas & Granny's

Google brought these up which is what I think I have:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Ford+Cortina+uppe...

Same as the Quinton Hazel type.

Does that look right to you?

Phil
420 SEAC

[Big Daft Lad]

Was it the Quinton Hazel ones your man refused to fit? I hope not as that's what's on my car!

[shpub]

I have never heard of a a top ball joint fail in this way. I've seen it on Griff/Chimaera bottom joints where articulation problems have caused the joint to fail.

They are off a Ford Cortina mk IV and NOT a Granada although people have retrofitted Granny joints with the aid of a file. Not recommended though.

IIRC your suspension has been modified/lowered and doesn't necessarily have the same geometry or movement as the original car which means that the locking out problem may be restricted to your car and its mods.

In particular the shock length can make the problem worse as it is the shock length open/closed that determines the extreme of movement.

So I suspect that the joints you have may have slightly less articulation that causes a problem with your car but is perfectly OK with standard cars.

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

I replaced my ball joints on racer at the front, and I doubt your be going lower than the racer, and I've not had any problems with them. I'm sure I just ordered them for TVRcarParts

[Transmitter Man]

Thanks for your feedback guys.

I will update you on this and should hopefully have this sorted in the next day or two.

Phil
420 SEAC

[voltage_maxx]

Transmitter Man said:

Hi Bob,

Thanks for that. I knew our cars were hybrids made up out of scrap Cortinas & Granny's

Google brought these up which is what I think I have:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Ford+Cortina+uppe...

Same as the Quinton Hazel type.

Does that look right to you?

Phil
420 SEAC

Hey Phil, looks about right. Looks like what's on my car, but then, I'm restoring mine and have never had it on the road!
Upper and lower wishbones are from the Cortina, so as suggested by others posting here, would suggest standard Cortina ball joints should be fine. Especially if using a quality OE brand like QH.

[Transmitter Man]

Voltage,

You very last word said it all.

It seems after further investigation and comparing the ball joints on Henry's car to those found on mine and sourced from: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-ball-joints-upper-lowe... in Germany one finds that the latter are not suitable for a wedge nor are they a known brand.

Something to do with the shape of the area where the ball moves. I'll put up A/B comparison photo's soon.

We're now waiting for the QH Cortina jobbies which we think are the correct ones and as fitted to Henry's car.

There is some Chinese wring on mine!

Phil
420 SEAC

[voltage_maxx]

Transmitter Man said:

Voltage,

You very last word said it all.

It seems after further investigation and comparing the ball joints on Henry's car to those found on mine and sourced from: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-ball-joints-upper-lowe... in Germany one finds that the latter are not suitable for a wedge nor are they a known brand.

Something to do with the shape of the area where the ball moves. I'll put up A/B comparison photo's soon.

We're now waiting for the QH Cortina jobbies which we think are the correct ones and as fitted to Henry's car.

There is some Chinese wring on mine!

Phil
420 SEAC

Will be interested to see Phil. No idea where the ones were sourced from on my car. Someone it appears had a last ditched effort and getting it an MOT, and splurged on new front ball-joints, bushes, even a steering rack (that is QH!). It obviously then failed, and someone threw in the towel, hence why the car was stored for 4 years!