chadr
Well-Known Member
I've been wanting to get my front lower ball joints replaced for a while now after seeing a few owners have some catastrophic failures:
http://www.landcruiserclub.net/foru...on-ball-joint-wear?highlight=lower+ball+joint
I really didn't want this happening at motorway speeds or at any speed for that matter!!
So I pre-purchased both L and R ball joints from Roughtrax and upon visual inspection the new parts seemed fine, so didn't think anything further of it. Took them all down to Freedom 4X4, where Trevor and Ed (carefully) removed the old ball joints and the nearside one was really really worn - it was like a wobbly tooth, no resistance at all. The offside was a bit better but not by much.
Come to fit the new parts and the nearside one went on fine - no issues. The offside one however was putting up a fight - one out of the 4 bolts that go in from underneath was refusing to play ball. Eventually took the part off and onto the bench and discovered that one of the sleeves (which are found only on the 2 outer bolt holes) hadn't been machined correctly to fit the M10 size bolt!
. So the the bolt was only getting partially into the sleeve and no further. Luckily Trevor and Ed managed to reclaim a sleeve from the old part (not as easy as that sounds, given the original was nearly 20 years old) and managed to get the new ball joint fitted.
So a couple of points to consider:
If you haven't had your Collie's lower ball joints checked or replaced, I would strongly recommend you do it sooner, rather than later. Always better safe than sorry IMHO.
If you do purchase non-OEM replacement parts like me, check that an M10 bolt will fit in all 4 holes BEFORE, you fit it!
http://www.landcruiserclub.net/foru...on-ball-joint-wear?highlight=lower+ball+joint
I really didn't want this happening at motorway speeds or at any speed for that matter!!
So I pre-purchased both L and R ball joints from Roughtrax and upon visual inspection the new parts seemed fine, so didn't think anything further of it. Took them all down to Freedom 4X4, where Trevor and Ed (carefully) removed the old ball joints and the nearside one was really really worn - it was like a wobbly tooth, no resistance at all. The offside was a bit better but not by much.
Come to fit the new parts and the nearside one went on fine - no issues. The offside one however was putting up a fight - one out of the 4 bolts that go in from underneath was refusing to play ball. Eventually took the part off and onto the bench and discovered that one of the sleeves (which are found only on the 2 outer bolt holes) hadn't been machined correctly to fit the M10 size bolt!
. So the the bolt was only getting partially into the sleeve and no further. Luckily Trevor and Ed managed to reclaim a sleeve from the old part (not as easy as that sounds, given the original was nearly 20 years old) and managed to get the new ball joint fitted. So a couple of points to consider:
If you haven't had your Collie's lower ball joints checked or replaced, I would strongly recommend you do it sooner, rather than later. Always better safe than sorry IMHO.
If you do purchase non-OEM replacement parts like me, check that an M10 bolt will fit in all 4 holes BEFORE, you fit it!
