55 replies to this topic

[skoughi]

However you still get a better job by hand as it is totally controllable, you can feel if it goes too tight, you cannot do that with a drill, at the end of the day Im only advising what is best engineering practice for safety and performance if any of you choose to ignore it that is ok,if you find a better method then that is good, I just don't agree with using a drill.

Not ignoring your advice at all, just admiting to how i did it at the time with whatever tools i had at my disposal. Then having the guts to admit it on a public forum so that more experenced guys like yourself can pass on your knowledge and put me right. I will take your advice and replace along with the other pointers, thank you for your help.

I think "ignore" is probably not the best choice of words to use Sorry if anyone took offence.

Haha! No offence taken sir, I was actually thinking it was you who may be offended! I had a vision of you banging your head against a wall in desperation while ranting! You and all the other guys who've been working on these damn contraptions for years are what makes this website a success, your advice which you all give out freely is a massive help for plebs such as myself. Even DILLIGAF's own special style at getting his point across is worth its wieght in gold! What a carry on though over balljoint shimming, imagine what it would be like discussing the middle east problem!

[MRA]

Middle eastern problem ? whats wrong with Norwich ??

[TopCatCustom]

I've a couple of decent standard cordless drills, I'm sure they will creep round as slow as about 30RPM, anyway- by now we must have covered the answer!!

[darky32]

Just a quick question if I may .......I just wanted to clarify something....it says to fit one of each of the shims that come with the new joints which i have done, I just wanted to check that after adding or removing shims to get the right fit I have re-torqued the balljoint back up but I have now added all the shims that came with the kit (6 in total) and the balljoint still locks up solid? What am I doing wrong??

Cheers Mark

[Spitz]

You've lapped them in ?

Edited by Spitz, 22 April 2013 - 08:24 PM.

[darky32]

Yep lapped it in but maybe not enough

[Spitz]

What ever you do...DON"T USE A DRILL !....lol

[tiger99]

darky32, the simple answer to it locking up when you fit all the supplied shims, and of course the locktab, is that there are never enough, and you should always save the old shims for re-use. Keep any left-overs for the next time, which will be in at least 50k miles if you have done it correctly, moving freely with just a trace of end float, and grease them regularly with Castrol LM.

As a matter of interest, the original manual said that they should be greased every 1000 miles, and that would do no harm at all, although I think the interval was extended later. I don't have a copy of a later manual immediately to hand, but as the greasing is a very quick job, and saves lots of money in the long run, I would suggest doing all 8 nipples every 3000 miles or so, i.e. at every oil change and half way in between.

[darky32]

Will have another go tonight and spend more time lapping them in, I kept all the old shims thanks for the info chaps

Mark

[sonikk4]

I ended up using three extra packs of shims on my clubby ball joints plus the ones supplied. Always worth buying spares as they are cheap. These were lapped for some time as well. The joys of ball joints.

[darky32]

Got there in the end Sonik , lapped them in for a bit longer and used 7 shims (spare ones on order for the rest off the balljoints) not looking forward to that I can tell you

Mark