4 replies to this topic

[Ann-Wilson]

Hi folks, so tried to lap in ball joints this morning. I did not tighten the main locking nut much at all. Ran a drill very slowly for about a minute and could see the faces going a grayish colour.

Cleaned put back together...little grease ready for shimming....obviously I can see I need more than three shims.......but when I tighten by hand just a little so that I can only just move the pin I notice that is sticks in certain places and not in others. Is his normal? Or do I need to re lap until this is completely gone? I was a little worried about over lapping.....can one over lap a joint?

Thanks for any advice here.

Kind regards,

Richard

[Ethel]

Yes you can, hardening is a surface treatment. You could use engineer's blue, or just colour it in with a marker pen, that'll show you which bits are rubbing.

[dklawson]

Remember that you do not lap (by hand or drill) by holding the pin "straight up". You are supposed to move the pin in a figure-8 pattern and that pattern oscillates around in a circle so you hit all the high spots.  You have to delicately adjust the dome nut finger-tight so that the abrassive is working not just on the bottom side of the pin but also between the pin and the dome nut.  I have lapped a few ball joints by drill and now only do it by hand because of how difficult it can be to control the lapping action (and dome nut tightness) with the drill.  When you are done you should see a uniform matte grey finish on all the surfaces that might touch.  The properly shimmed ball joints should be tight enough that they do not "flop around" but can be pushed off center using minimal to modest thumb pressure.

[Ann-Wilson]

Thanks Doug, this helps a lot. I used the drill very carefully and very slowly. Had exactly this issue controlling the dome nut. Will do second hub by hand...although still have a few sticking points on the first hub. I could feel a smoother movement with the pin and nut after cleaned out and hand tightened assembly.

[AlexMozza]

I've always done them by hand, taking my time, checking then re-laping if required