11 replies to this topic

[cjreyn]

Hi,

I'm replacing the hubs, ball joints, and bearings on my 1989 mini thirty. I purchased a built set from minisport. I'm removing the old hubs, and I managed to break the taper on the top ball joint on one side using a scissor tool. The taper angle looks correct, i.e. narrow at the threaded end, and wider towards the ball. Odly, all the other ball joints appear to have the opposite taper direction. I'm struggling to see how I would ever break the taper with these using the scissor tool. I've included some photos to illustrate.

 

This photo shows the taper with the correct angle which broke fine:

 

 ball_joint_bottom_good_taper.jpg   43.44K   3 downloads

 

This photo shows the bottom of a joint that wouldn't break, with the taper running the opposite way, i.e. wider at the thread and thinner at the ball:

 

 ball_joint_bottom_bad_taper.jpg   36.04K   2 downloads

 

I've noticed that for the joint that broke ok, it is connected to a new top arm. All the rest appear to be original.

 

Do I need to break the others in a different way, with different tools? If I use the scissor tool, I would just be compressing the threaded and tapered pin further into the arms! Are they just the wrong type that someone erroneously fitted a long time ago, or did rover produce two types?

 

Cheers

 

Chris

[KTS]

They will all be the same - have a look at the one you have split and you'll see it tapers back down at the ball end; that's what you're seeing on the others

Keep going with the splitter, the others will go eventually

[camp freddy]

thats a clearance taper for the swivel joint , the taper is still in the arm , you will see it when you disconnect it

[nicklouse]

As above nothing strange or odd. That is the shape.

[cjreyn]

Thank you all. What I was seeing was indeed the clearance taper, and scraping away the grease from the first photo revealed the same as the others.

 

Here is my ball joint war story:

 

Tried the scissor tool, but became too tough to tighten with the socket driver so used a breaker bar. This broke the taper on number 2/4. Attacking number 3/4 in the same way resulted in the scissor bolt shearing, leaving the scissor tool stuck on the ball joint! Whacking it with a hammer to free the tool actually caused the taper to break, result! With a broken scissor tool, I popped to Halfords and purchased a pickle fork, and with a massive whack of the hammer, the last one was free.

 

Hammer + pickle fork > scissor tool.

 

Now having a celebratory beer!

[sonscar]

Not all scissor tools were created equal.Steve..

[nicklouse]

Pickle fork. Pile of crap. Shreads the rubbers. 
 

broke way too many of them back in the 80s bought a SykesPickavant scissor type and it has been used on many different cars and always done it’s job.

[RooBoonix]

This style hasn't failed me yet.. use an old nut wound on 3/4 of the way to make a locator for the long bolt and wind away.

 

https://www.minispar...|Back to search

Agree that old school chunky scissor splitters are very good though, pickle forks have their uses but like Nick says they just ruin the rubbers.

 

[steeley]

Two lump hammers always works for me

[Dusky]

This style hasn't failed me yet.. use an old nut wound on 3/4 of the way to make a locator for the long bolt and wind away.

https://www.minispar...|Back to search
Agree that old school chunky scissor splitters are very good though, pickle forks have their uses but like Nick says they just ruin the rubbers.

This is what I use too after breaking a scissor type. Sent the broken bit through the garage.

[MiNiKiN]

I always tighten up the scissor tool as much as possible with the 1/2" wrench and then leave it under tension for a bit - give the cone seat a whack with the hammer and of it goes (in 90% of the cases) - get a quality tool OR

buy cheap, buy twice and win a free ER-visit

[MiniMadRacer]

The traditional method was indeed two lump hammers, very brutal and very agricultural, the forks are ok, but the cheap ones "spread" or just snap... I have a long snapon fork, that does its job and is long so no danger of hitting the wing, but yes it can destroy boots but the snap on one is shaped at the forks so there is a correct and a wrong way of using it.. one side of the fork is flat the other sloped, the flat side goes to the rubber (hope that makes sense) it only goes one way up and that tends not to destroy the boots. I clean the tool and boot before using it and lightly oil both. The threaded separator is probably the best way to go though, less brutal all round.