Bottom Ball Joints

[Deleted]

I expect many owners may have been following the two new bottom ball joints on EBAY.They sold for £156.51 to Roverpart and it will be interesting to see what price he will ask in due course
I know these items are rare but what is the situation with the top joints? Are these "super rare" or available?
The n/s lower ball joint on my own car was replaced in 1990 but the lower o/s and the tops have never been replaced so I might be looking for some parts in future.
I suppose the final price for the two new lower joints was not unreasonable given that they were o/e.

[Phil Nottingham]

They are long lasting and good ones can be got secondhand anyway. I was watching these particular ones but decided against bidding as my existing supply of secondhand ones will outlast me anyway!

[Deleted]

Phil, do you mean good secondhand ones are available for top and bottom?

[Phil Nottingham]

Yes I have picked these up over the years - I am sure David Green has them as well

[Deleted]

I have emailed David about availability and I'll see what he has to offer.
The workshop manual assumes that both the top and bottom will be renewed at the same time and mentions really scary things like torsion bar removal
Looking at the drawings,it seems to be possible simply to take the downward force of the torsion bar in a trolley jack and let the weight of the car hold the balance whilst removing the locknuts etc.
Is this a naive summary of the procedure or has someone actually done this job?
Sorry, I forgot to say I am talking about the top joints not the bottom ones

[Phil Nottingham]

Its dangerous if you do not know what you are doing but why do you need these?
THEY ONLY NEED REPLACING SINGLY WHEN WORN

[Deleted]

I seem to remember seeing somewhere that the upper swivels were very scarce so I'm looking to the future and thinking about acquiring some useful spares.
I always watch the MOT being carried out and there seems to be no appreciable wear but the boots look pretty old and frail so I wouldn't mind acquiring a couple of spare parts... just in case.
I would certainly not tackle any heavy job without full consideration to the risks! I have a "belt and braces" approach to working under cars, especially heavy ones.

[Phil Nottingham]

I thought the bottoms are the scarsest - they are certainly the most difficult to replace.

They should be good for 200k miles if looked after but this means keeping the rubbers in perfect condition - these will last no longer than 10 years

[lagain]

I replaced my top ones some years ago, as there was some playin them, but the bottom ones seemed fine. From time to time I carefully lift the rubber covers and squirt in some grease. Gravity will assist the grease with the lowers. The top ones were very easy to do but the lowers are a very different proposition, according to the book.
The best way to check them is to pop off the track rod end so that the wheel is completely free any play should then show up.

[Phil Nottingham]

The top ones are very straight forward to replace. The rubbers top and bottom can be replaced safely without relieving the torsion bar tension if you are careful.

If you have not learned the knack of breaking balljoint taper joints with two hammers you will have problems as normal ball joint separators will not fit.

To practise try it on the track rod ends - one sharp blow should be sufficient to release these 90% of the time. The big ball joints may require 2-3 and you also rely on the massive torsion bar tension to help this along.

You must use quite heavy ball peins and not copper hammers as its the short sharpe shock that breaks the taper rather than brute force

Just make sure that the fixing nuts are well screwed down with say 1/8" gap to the ball joint eye. This also protects the threads if you miss!

[Deleted]

How much play in the upper would be considered worn? I think my drivers side upper was stuiffed many years ago & wonder how it got it's last WOF.

[Phil Nottingham]

Barely discernible! Its so subjective - that flopping about loose could satisfy some people!