12 replies to this topic

[minisilverbullet]

I had all my balljoints replaced 3 years ago. 

 

I have been doing some other work on the car (new engine). While inserting the drive shafts I noticed that the right hand side top balljoint moves nice and freely. I assume this is correct

 

But the left hand side moves freely but becomes a bit stiffer in some orientations, I can still move it just with my fingers. 

 

problems or not? 

[andrewmini67]

Ball joints are a funny thing, they never seem to shim up the same. The latter, tight moving is the best but as long as there is no movement up and down they should be OK. I have had advisories at MOT's in the past on new ball joints, possibly the loose feeling ones????

[Spider]

Could be a problem but to be safe, given what they are, I'd suggest at the very least pulling it down for a look.

 

I haven't been able to find a decent ball joint for a while now. Some only have a very thin skin hardened layer, which flakes off like an egg shell and I am a little suspect, from your description, that's what's happened to yours. Once those bits of egg shell are free in there, they make a real mess of them.

[cian]

The "unbranded" ball joints are just awful! In this case paying the extra for quality parts is a must! I find the " genuine" ball joints have a better grease path and do seem a better quality but if are made with better materials I do not know

[Carlos W]

Given the fact you're increasing power certainly have a look and see what's going on

[tiger99]

It must not be tight. The Rover manual requires between "no nip" and 2 thou end float. If it is tight in a few spots only, lapping may improve it, but not always. What you must never do is adjust shimming to take up wear, because once it has gone oval, it will be tight at extreme angles, and will fatigue the pin, which will break.

That is generally true of all adjustable ball joints. They rely on the ball remaining spherical, albeit on the Mini it is two concentric half spheres. The reason for that, by the way, is that the vehicle weight is carried by the top joint on the smaller radius, about which the steering arm has more leverage, so less friction is imposed on the steering. Attempts to substitute more hard - wearing joints may fail due to increased friction.

I agree that quality is abysmal nowadays thanks to certain parts suppliers who are more than willing to take your money for third rate and possibly dangerous junk.

I see that Delphi, a very major supplier to the automotive industry worldwide, still do Mini ball joints. I currently work for an unrelated part of Delphi, so my opinion may be biased, but I suspect that their ball joints will be ok. They also do steering rack gaiters and CV joint boots, amongst other things, which I expect to be made of better rubber than those from an incompetent supplier who has been under criticism lately.

I don't get any commission, and am only a temporary contractor at Delphi, working on ECUS for large diesel engines, but I will be interested to see whether anyone tries Delphi parts and how good they are.

[cal844]

I can vouch for Delphi parts, I use them all time, paying slightly more than 'base market'price

[Spider]

Good to know Delphi are still making them and I'll search them out. I bought a Delphi branded Metro joint only the other day and my initial thoughts are it easily as good as OEM, but I haven't put it in to service (yet).

[tiger99]

I can't find much info on the part of Delphi which makes stuff like that. But the bit I am in is largely ex-Lucas. Other bits are ex-Delco. It is a very large organisation, but makes OEM equipment for many major manufacturers. I suspect that somewhere along the way they have acquired one of the original ball joint manufacturers, which suggests that they will be using proper tooling. The cowboy manufacturers hack them out roughly on a lathe, leaving obvious turning marks, while the originals, at least those I have purchased, were ground. There is a good quality and safety culture where I work, and it seems to permeate the entire organisation.

 

I will try to find out where the factory is, which may give us a clue as to who it was previously.

 

It is an interesting job working at Delphi in semi-retirement. I am learning all about common rail injection on 12 litre truck engines. Can't fit one of those in a Mini! {No doubt someone will prove me wrong...)

[Spider]

The Delphi Ball Joint P/N is TD152W.

 

I see they also have Knuckle Joints which appear to be a copy of the original TRW ones, P/N TC30.

 

While I also saw they had Steering Rod end, I use the Triumph ones and haven't had a problem with these, so I didn't go looking too far at the Delphi range for these.

 

I'm not 100% certain, however, it appears TRW themselves have stopped making the Ball Joints for Minis.    Not sure about the UK, but they made the OEM ones here. As long as they had grease in them, they'd last forever.

[Magneto]

I found this crossover list for that part number

 

 

BORG & BECK BSK5918
FAI AUTOPARTS SS5004
FIRST LINE FSK5904
FIRST LINE FSK5918
MONROE L0601
MOPROD MSK60S
MOTAQUIP VSJ315
MOTAQUIP VSJ465
NK 5101201
OCAP 0900702
QUINTON HAZELL QSK60S
ROVER 8G4187
RTS 9305515
RUVILLE 966100
SACHS SK5009
SIDEM 23082SET
SPIDAN 44570
TRISCAN 8500601
TRW 04RK3499
UNIPART GSJ1152
UNIPART GSJ166

[Magneto]

And this place claims to have them in stock at L15 each.....

 

http://www.rapidcarp...pair-kit-8g4187

[tiger99]

Moke Spider, I assume that you are using Triumph track rod ends because they are longer and allow proper thread engagement if using negative camber lower arms. It was commonly known in the 1970s that you could do that but the information has been lost. I have several times told people here to use the Triumph parts because they are a standard part and so are cheaper. Some still come with grease nipples, which may help the life. Funnily enough I don't think I was believed, and people continued to fork out excessive cash for mysterious "special" parts from their favourite Mini supplier, which were in fact just the Triumph parts, readily available from any automotive parts supplier or Triumph specialists.

OK the price difference is not enough to bankrupt anyone, but I know a ripoff when I see one.

Various other parts are not Mini specific and it is always worth checking the price elsewhere.