Lower ball joint question

[ianwhitewick]

I'm refitting the front uprights with new ball joints and stumbled upon an issue.

The lower ball joint nut sits in the bottom of the upright. With no access for a socket or spanner. So I twisted the whole upright, with the nut in the bottom, onto the lower ball joint. This worked until the thread reached the nylon insert on the nut and then began to twist.

Although the upright cannot unwind for the ball joint to fall off. It doesn't feel right.

Do I need to undo the lower suspension arm and compress it into the upright? But then how to tighten the nut?

Anyone with any experience of this?

[Tanguero]

You need to take the steering arm off the bottom of the upright before removing the ball joint. The taper that the ball joint fits into is on the steering arm, so just press the arm down onto the taper pin of the ball joint in a vice and you can undo the nut easily.

"Reassembly is the reverse of removal..."

[Flatdash]

Tanguero said:

You need to take the steering arm off the bottom of the upright before removing the ball joint. The taper that the ball joint fits into is on the steering arm, so just press the arm down onto the taper pin of the ball joint in a vice and you can undo the nut easily.

"Reassembly is the reverse of removal..."

Looks as though you have a genuine QH balljoint,the head of the tapered shaft has a hex socket facility to steady the taper when tightening .

I brought a pair from Ebay,same supplier,both packaged in QH boxes,one had the socket facility the other not,also the later was painted rather than plated but the bigger problem was the taper, when tightened, was able to pull further into the steering arm necessitating either an extra washer beneath the original spacer or machining a new washer with deeper register.

[ianwhitewick]

Thanks guys. So obvious when it is explained!!

More haste less speed, me thinks.

The ball joint is a Lemforder (I believe). Having read a thread on the forum on a Cerb's failed ball joint, I made sure they were quality ones. You can tell when you see them beside the cheaper ones.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=6&a...