Effing ball joint splitters!

[Guest]

I dont know about the rest of you but i hate changing ball joint boots :evil: . I lost the rag the other day with a stubborn ball joint. Its the task i hate the most now, as it should be quick but always ends up taking hours.

Anyway after two nights soaking the blighter in parafin, wd40 (whilst keeping pressure on the stem) etc. etc, taking a cold chisel to it almost beating the trailing arm out of shape. Broke two different splitter forks using a scaffold as leverage and jacking up the ball joint stem with a three ton jack and the whole bus lifting off the stands.... you can guess i was fed up . There isnt a shop over here that sells the scissor type splitter anything near big enough for the job, Halfrauds offering was the biggest and its still 20mm short at least.

So went on ebay and payed a bit extra for this but it was still £50 cheaper than the cheapest heavy duty HGV ball joint splitter.

took longer to get the nut wound off than it did to split the joint :roll:, recommended and well worth the money

the moral of the story... dont be a tight ass like me and go buy the right tools for the job :lol: .

 

[cunning plan]

How do you get them back in? :|

 

[Guest]

How do you get them back in? :|

tighten them up once you have the boots fitted and the ball joints back in the spindle. You may need a mate to spread the trailing arms enough to the taper of the ball joint back in, but i use the wheel jack to give me enough movement.

The boots on mine were really badly split and the PO wrapped them in a thick plastic and some heavy duty cable ties, lucky theres no equivalent of the MOT in the USA :lol: . Definitely wouldnt pass it here.

 

[cunning plan]

I've confused myself. :|

Which bit are you talking about?

The ball join which goes into the torsion arm OR the top of the ball joint that goes into the spindle?

I didn't know you could replace the boots, I just assumed you needed to replace the whole joint. (As you can see I just bought brand new ones already fitted to dropped spindles).

 

[Guest]

the rubber boot on the balljoint tends to perish. I needed to replace all four for the MOT, the PO had used a bin liner and some cable ties on one of them :lol:

 

[cunning plan]

:shock: Nice and safe then! :? :lol:

What I mean is, are you taking the spindle off the torsion arm, or the ball joint out of the torsion arm?

Are you doing the top thing or bottom thing :?: :lol:

 

[sparkywig]

Take the balljoint out of the spindle to replace the boots.

 

[dubs and classics]

He is seperating the ball joint from the spindle bud

They do get seized in there good and proper and are sometimes impossible to split without a proper splitter...

 

[dubs and classics]

Beat me to it sparky :lol:

 

[sparkywig]

Beat me to it sparky :lol:

Got to be quicker with those fingers then....

 

[dubs and classics]

Beat me to it sparky :lol:

Got to be quicker with those fingers then....

As a one finger typist being quick isnt an option ... :lol:

 

[sparkywig]

I'm twice as fast as you then.....

 

[RICH-I-AM]

Split Boots arnt a fail, Advise only :mrgreen:
But fair play to you going to all that effort to chance them 8)

Rich

 

[PetrolHead]

Split Boots arnt a fail, Advise only :mrgreen:

Yep, that what my tester always told me.

The joints won't too last long with a split boot though, water and grit in, plus grease out = worn balljoint.

Spliting the balljoint from the hub is relatively easy if you put the joint under pressure with the balljoint splitter, and
then give the arm by the balljoint a good sharp whack with a big hammer.
It shocks the joint apart with surprising ease.

I broke 1 splitter trying to force one balljoint apart with the splitter alone before I was given the above tip.
1 new splitter and big hammer saw the remaining 3 apart in next to no time.

 

[cunning plan]

Ahh I see. Cheers guys.

The reason I was getting confused was when I took my spindles off the torsion arms - they just fell apart :shock: So, from then, everytime I heard someone talk about a ball-joint splitter, I assumed they were taking the ball-joint out of the torsion arm - which I assumed you needed a special press for - hence the questions and confusion :lol:

Obviously my ones were just worn, but most require the splitter to get apart.

 

[Guest]

we must have tigher regulations here, we have to go to a department run centres as well, there are several nationwide and everything is computerised etc its hard to get through.

i heard they were supposed to be heading towards this as well in england?

I thinking back i hate going to them more than i did taking the driving test. Quite imtimidating.

i was failed the last time i took the Devon in for a split boot