Hello everyone, merry christmas,

I am currently installing some new ball joints (both top & bottom, both sides) into my mini. I have shimmed them up and they feel tight but NOT notchy (action is smooth - this is with no grease). When I go to pump grease into them they suffer from what feels like a hydraulic lock. This is the reason why I was replacing the ball joints in the first place.

Can anyone enlighten me as to what I need to change with my assembly procedure? Or is it a case of they'll loosen up after a few miles?

Cheers, Nick

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"In two years time your car will be like a lady's clothes, out of date, my car will still be in fashion when I am dead" - Sir Alec speaking to Pininfarina

Assemble dry to determine number of shims, then dismantle and grease everything whilst you put it back together again.


(that is, dont assemble dry and pump the grease in last, it doesn't work as well that way)

Ar Nick.....sorry to say mate, but they are the cheap (and IMO Crappy) ball joints. The original ones have a small flat ground up over the smaller and larger ball of the pin so the grease can get to where it needs to. Without this flat, the gease dosen't easily (if at all) get from underneith to the top parts.

You can grind a small flat on them yourself, if you've a steady hand. Only needs to be about 2 mm wide.

The spring washers that they supply with those usually resemble a bit of wire rather than a decent spring washer. If that is what you have, use the old spring washer.

PM sent.

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i can`t get my old balljoints undone to replace them,tight as buggery,any suggestions on how to loosen them ?

cheers
jayson

Are you trying to split the ball joint? If so do you have a ball joint splitter?

Or,

Are you just trying to undo the nut? If so, soak it with WD40 and leave it for a while. Then try again with a big breaker bar.

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Ryan Filippi
Minis In The Gong
[email protected]
www.minisinthegong.com.au

I usually take the hub off the car when I strike a difficult one. The I 'clamp' it in the press (take the CV out, stand it on the flat machined side, lay a solid steel block across the back and bring the press down on that) and use a 1 1/2" deep dish socket to undo it. They are done up to (or should be) to 70 ft/lbs so they need a bit of grunt to undo them. If I feel that I cannot do it on the car, I stop before damaging the flats on the nut of the ball joint, take the hub off to do it this ^ way. The width of the flat is only small and is in a tight spot so once it gets damaged, it makes it that much harder to do.

Once I had to hold the nut of the joint in the vice and put a pipe over the drive shaft to get enough leverage for it to be undone

Check you have the lock-tab undone too.

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yeah ryan just trying to undo the big nut,thanks for the advice.

cheers
jayson

76 van, I undid mine with a rattle gun, came apart easy as.

Thanks Harley I will try it that way to see if it makes any difference.

Thanks for the PM mowog. Bit dissapointing that it kind of looks like I've been burnt using 'genuine' parts

GTM, this flat you speak of, where is it located and do you have a picture? I can see a flat on my old ones right on the bottom of the ball (which my old ones also have) and also a groove on the bottom side of where the ball sits (if you can follow my technical explanation ).

Thanks for your help guys.

GTM, PM returned.

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"In two years time your car will be like a lady's clothes, out of date, my car will still be in fashion when I am dead" - Sir Alec speaking to Pininfarina

thanks for all the replies.

cheers
jayson

Here's a pic of the flat that's grond across the ball (sorry, doesn't photograph very well)




This is the packaging from the Ball Joints I use




This shows an original spring washer and the inferior copy




This is how I 'clamp' them in the press

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thanks gt,greatly appreciate the pictures & advice

Don’t know if this has been posted on here before but miniaddicts in the you uk do a good how-to on ball joints on you tube.

I haven’t done this before here is the link…… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyDE4oqbZnc
If that doesn’t work just look up miniaddicts on youtube
Hope this helps
Cheers neil

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I have a mini because I'm not allowed to play with small thermo nuclear weapons any more. (bloody neighbours you’d think they would be happy that they don’t have to turn a light on when they need to take a leak in the middle of the night)