Swivel pin damage

[Sam Bee]

I am cleaning and reassembling my top and bottom swivel ball joints. I have the later type of bottom ball joints (incidentally, no mention of which can I find in the WS Manual, the Supplement, nor my December 1972 Parts Catalogue, only the earlier ones). I have damage to one of the tapers, as per the attached photo. There is no apparent damage to the corresponding female taper and the fit remains excellent. So the mystery to me is how on earth such damage could have been caused, deeply grooved all round almost as if in a lathe but much too uneven for that. Has anyone seen anything like it?


Attachment Deleted

[enigmas]

I wouldn't concern myself as far as rebuilding the ball joint and reusing it again.
In relation to the grooving on the taper/spindle...grit or dirt in the housing in concert with the spindle rotating during tightening may have caused the grooving?

[lagain]

Surprised that they are still OK. I replaced my top swivels, possibly, ten or more years ago as they both had play in them, bottom ones are still OK and each year I carefully ease off the gaiters and squirt in a little grease.

[Ken Nelson]

I'm doing a relube of my ball joints currently, and I can assure you that yours are quite fine. The part that matters is the ball itself. That groove is also easily explained when you look at how the original grease boots are made. They have a metal 'cone' that fits inside the boot and sits around the bottom of the taper Undoubtedly some water and grit have collected there to cause this. It should be of no real concern.

[Sam Bee]

Many thanks Ken. The balls of all four of the pins I have are in excellent condition.