Ball joints

[garysfrp]

Hi

is the bottom ball joint the same on the FRP as standard 1.7? oh and track rod ends?

[Blue3]

Ball joint is same,

End of track rod (joint) is same

Track rod itself is longer

[garysfrp]

excellent cheers mate

[coopersmotors]

As Blue3 says they are the same as the std 1.7. Go for Quinton Hazel, they are a couple of ££s more per unit but they also meet or exceed OEM spec.
Tip on bottom ball joint fitting. Cut/grind/remove old unit rivets from ball joint tang side, digging well in to tang,rather than trying to drill out rivets. Drive in a wedge or old screwdriver to separate joint. Clean joint seating area to bare metal. Treat with preservative to prevent ingress of rust. Fit ball joint, bolt heads down & torque to 40Nm. Do not be tempted to over tighten.
Hope this helps.

[Blue3]

or have them shotblasted and powdercoated like I did

As Blue3 says they are the same as the std 1.7. Go for Quinton Hazel, they are a couple of ££s more per unit but they also meet or exceed OEM spec.
Tip on bottom ball joint fitting. Cut/grind/remove old unit rivets from ball joint tang side, digging well in to tang,rather than trying to drill out rivets. Drive in a wedge or old screwdriver to separate joint. Clean joint seating area to bare metal. Treat with preservative to prevent ingress of rust. Fit ball joint, bolt heads down & torque to 40Nm. Do not be tempted to over tighten.
Hope this helps.

[Dogsbody]

I seem to recall Chris having problems after powder coating the wishbones
Something about the ball joints moving slightly on the powder coating and not being able to get them as tight as they need to be...
It messed up the handling from memory.

I Maybe wrong

[coopersmotors]

Yea Blue3, forgot to mention that bit. I also had the wishbones powder coated as per your photo, but having read other peoples woes, I cleaned off the ball joint mating surfaces to give a metal to metal joint. Then to prevent ingress of rust over time, I treated them, with a product called Fertan, which reacts with the metal to leave an inert surface.
Also a note on the tightening, 40Nm isn't the full tightness for a 10mm metric fine HT bolt, but is the right tightness taking into account the nature of the joint & the range of loads it carries.

Last edited by coopersmotors on Mon Nov 26, 2012 7:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

[garysfrp]

i thought i had all the info i needed but these extra posts are great

cheers