aircured
Well-known member
what is the best way to totally remove ball joints (to replace them with new). :shock:
Ballz
- Thread starter aircured
- Start date
Help Support Early Bay Forum:
K@rlos
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2008
- Messages
- 5,312
- Reaction score
- 1,196
- Location
- Woodbridge, Suffolk
- Year of Your Van(s)
- 1970
- Van Type
- Westfalia pop-top
van fan said:
Cool air do an exchange deal, you get 4 trailing arms with fitted ball joints. just remove your current trailing arms and send them back to cool air. £39.95 each i think with a surcharge. more expensive than knocking out old ball joints but hell of alot quicker. I'm getting 4 when i lower my bus
dubdubz
Well-known member
be careful though...the surcharge will not be paid on arms that they say cannot be refurbed ..and rumour has it they are getting choosy on that..as they are not keeping the stock levels because when I phoned he said that there were a lot of arms that were not passing the scrutiny........just a cautionary word......
D
D
stagger lee
Well-known member
getting old joints out are a breeze, it's getting the new ones in. you need access to a press and some appropriate drifts.
1. grind the back of the joint out.
2. knock the taper and ball out.
3. clean out the grease.
4. feed a hacksaw through the joint case hole.
5. saw through the joint case, carefull not to cut into the trailing arm.
6. collapse the joint case and knock it out.
may seem longwinded, but you can do all four in less than an hour easy.
1. grind the back of the joint out.
2. knock the taper and ball out.
3. clean out the grease.
4. feed a hacksaw through the joint case hole.
5. saw through the joint case, carefull not to cut into the trailing arm.
6. collapse the joint case and knock it out.
may seem longwinded, but you can do all four in less than an hour easy.
dubdubz
Well-known member
stagger lee said:
I agree - this is how I have just done mine - 1hr is a bit optimistic if you're trying to be careful not to eat into the arm!! plus I found that I had to make 2 cuts as with 1 it would not compress enough to release........
SL I have access to a press - is there a as-yet-unknown item that can be used as a press tool or do I need to but something? I have another 2 sets to do!!
D
young_dubya
Well-known member
I use a press and made a small tool basically a 2.5" thick wall tube with a small u shaped ground out, its still fiddly but its the easies way ive found. a similar tool is used to put um back in.
aircured
Well-known member
Cheers for the info. :roll:
Maybe two options.
Give this a go tomorrow. :shock:
Try and find a cheap press. :x
Maybe two options.
Give this a go tomorrow. :shock:
Try and find a cheap press. :x
aircured
Well-known member
Nearly forgot. :msn4:
Having removed the offending item.
How do I get the new one fitted.
Having removed the offending item.
How do I get the new one fitted.
dubdubz
Well-known member
there's times I wish I'd taken pics.....
I spent ages making a version of the real vw tool 459 1 and 2 btw...about $200 from the US...I digress
which because the joints had rusted in over the years was impossible to remove with a 20ton press, a quick chat found others had seen in excess of 30tons and struggling to shift......
so the method Stagger lee mentioned is the easiest and quickest - grinding the top off takes 5 mins [ you will see a rim if you like around the ball joint and then a raised dome or centre section, it's the rim that needs grinding back- do it until you can see a feint line all way around], whacking the balljoint through the top...less than a minute
now I found cutting the remainder of the joint out was time consuming as I used a large hacksaw [you have to remove the blade, insert through and then attach blade again] the saw through observing front and back depths so you don't saw into the arm.
The bottom side is trickier the bit that the rubber boot sits into, means you can't really see very well, so I cut off this lip in a couple of areas so I could see better. So saw saw saw, then you think thats enough, dismantle saw, clamp in vice to squeeze the remainder...only to find that the cut wasn't deep enough. Then I discovered that the single cut in my case wasn't wide enough so when the joint was sqeezed it would release from the arm. So I made 2 cuts about 10mm apart and then cold chiselled this section out. Then the joint easily squeezed in a vice and was removed.
for info I had never done it before and each joint took me about 25mins but I was being cautious and not rushing at all......
when pressing back in don't forget the alignment, a local garage should be able to press them in..you need a 2 1/4" or 57mm ID installing tube...again pressing them in isn't a walk in the park as you have to get the inner hole clean first and make sure the joint goes in square, which is easier than it sounds because the arms don't always sit flat depending what they are resting on whilst you press them in.......
apols for the mammoth post but this very thing has delayed my import being mot'd and reg's by around 5 weeks trying to find someone that could do them...........
I spent ages making a version of the real vw tool 459 1 and 2 btw...about $200 from the US...I digress
which because the joints had rusted in over the years was impossible to remove with a 20ton press, a quick chat found others had seen in excess of 30tons and struggling to shift......
so the method Stagger lee mentioned is the easiest and quickest - grinding the top off takes 5 mins [ you will see a rim if you like around the ball joint and then a raised dome or centre section, it's the rim that needs grinding back- do it until you can see a feint line all way around], whacking the balljoint through the top...less than a minute
now I found cutting the remainder of the joint out was time consuming as I used a large hacksaw [you have to remove the blade, insert through and then attach blade again] the saw through observing front and back depths so you don't saw into the arm.
The bottom side is trickier the bit that the rubber boot sits into, means you can't really see very well, so I cut off this lip in a couple of areas so I could see better. So saw saw saw, then you think thats enough, dismantle saw, clamp in vice to squeeze the remainder...only to find that the cut wasn't deep enough. Then I discovered that the single cut in my case wasn't wide enough so when the joint was sqeezed it would release from the arm. So I made 2 cuts about 10mm apart and then cold chiselled this section out. Then the joint easily squeezed in a vice and was removed.
for info I had never done it before and each joint took me about 25mins but I was being cautious and not rushing at all......
when pressing back in don't forget the alignment, a local garage should be able to press them in..you need a 2 1/4" or 57mm ID installing tube...again pressing them in isn't a walk in the park as you have to get the inner hole clean first and make sure the joint goes in square, which is easier than it sounds because the arms don't always sit flat depending what they are resting on whilst you press them in.......
apols for the mammoth post but this very thing has delayed my import being mot'd and reg's by around 5 weeks trying to find someone that could do them...........
K@rlos
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2008
- Messages
- 5,312
- Reaction score
- 1,196
- Location
- Woodbridge, Suffolk
- Year of Your Van(s)
- 1970
- Van Type
- Westfalia pop-top
dubdubz said:
Cheers for the heads up dude 8)
aircured
Well-known member
Cheers for all the info.
Todays the day, going to at least get the old one out.
Todays the day, going to at least get the old one out.
aircured
Well-known member
dubdubz said:
Would appreciate any drawings / pictures of your home made vw tool etc...
dubdubz
Well-known member
van fan said:dubdubz said:
Would appreciate any drawings / pictures of your home made vw tool etc...
i'll just have my dinner and I'll take a couple of snaps.........
aircured
Well-known member
Well, followed those excellent instructions to the letter and got the offending item removed. :evil: Just a thought though, only needed to replace one..... What are the recommendations, ie should you replace them all at the same time, or is it ok to only replace the damaged ones.
dubdubz
Well-known member
apols - camera died but is on charge......
why have you replaced ? play in the joint or split rubber [unknown history adds to this as you may not know as in my case if the joints have been 'open' for years]
play - replace what you need to, bearing in mind the others may go soon, they do tend to wear fairly evenly I have found. It may be though that the joint had a split rubber which was replaced but not before accelarated wear had taken hold.
why have you replaced ? play in the joint or split rubber [unknown history adds to this as you may not know as in my case if the joints have been 'open' for years]
play - replace what you need to, bearing in mind the others may go soon, they do tend to wear fairly evenly I have found. It may be though that the joint had a split rubber which was replaced but not before accelarated wear had taken hold.
aircured
Well-known member
Had to replace the damaged one.
It was worn and think the PO had just replaced the rubber boot. :evil:
Still need to find a tool to allow me to incert the new ball joint though. :shock:
Also got myself a 20t press of "bay of the e". awesome. :mrgreen:
It was worn and think the PO had just replaced the rubber boot. :evil:
Still need to find a tool to allow me to incert the new ball joint though. :shock:
Also got myself a 20t press of "bay of the e". awesome. :mrgreen:
dubdubz
Well-known member
i'm at the 'arms ready for new joints phase'......no luck finding anything yet
ground hugger
Well-known member
I ask'd a guy in GSF at Sheffield who bought some ball joints, where/how he was having them press'd in.Sheffield bus depot(where they service bus's)Remove the old ones first and ask them if they will press them in for you,said he gave them £20.00 and it wasn't the first time he'd asked them
Worth a try asking your local bus depot
Worth a try asking your local bus depot
Hilly_70
Well-known member
Hi guys ..
Had mine pressed in with this jig :
Had to pay the guy to make this jig and to press my new joints in .. sold this jig to someone on here but I cant remember who ... Sorry .. Ill check my mail box and find out ..
Think the guy charged me about £70 for the jig and pressing out and in ..
Hilly
Had mine pressed in with this jig :
Had to pay the guy to make this jig and to press my new joints in .. sold this jig to someone on here but I cant remember who ... Sorry .. Ill check my mail box and find out ..
Think the guy charged me about £70 for the jig and pressing out and in ..
Hilly
dubdubz
Well-known member
that's really good - I've struggled to find the tubing/pipe the correct size, it's not a regular size as far as I can see.
That jig is very similar to the one I made with the 'tongs'? and is uesful for pressing out....although as mentioned when the press pressures got very high, I thought the slightly longer method of removal to be ok.
If I get a chance I'm going to try and press mine in today at a mates workshop.
My other question is these buses have been around for years and years - the ball joints are obviously service items - do they just not wear? and so in theory we are the fist wave of replacee's ? see I don't believe that so how have people been doing them? That jig shown above is needed as the configuration means there's no meat on the arm to push against so the 'uprights' push against the notches....standard ball joint tubes/recievers don't have these....so what did they do ?[vw repairist garages].
Hilly you don't by chance have the pipe size do you?
D
That jig is very similar to the one I made with the 'tongs'? and is uesful for pressing out....although as mentioned when the press pressures got very high, I thought the slightly longer method of removal to be ok.
If I get a chance I'm going to try and press mine in today at a mates workshop.
My other question is these buses have been around for years and years - the ball joints are obviously service items - do they just not wear? and so in theory we are the fist wave of replacee's ? see I don't believe that so how have people been doing them? That jig shown above is needed as the configuration means there's no meat on the arm to push against so the 'uprights' push against the notches....standard ball joint tubes/recievers don't have these....so what did they do ?[vw repairist garages].
Hilly you don't by chance have the pipe size do you?
D
