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Wishbone ball joint broken?

robdimond

PCGB Member
Member
Noticed my steering got a bit 'vague'. At speed on a roughish road the steering sometimes feels a bit like my old series 3 landrover! Was a lot more precise before! Grabbed the left side front wheel at the quarter to three position with that side jacked up and there is a fair bit of play rocking it back and forth. Don't think it's bearings because the whole strut and hub is moving, on closer inspection I can see the ball joint on the wishbone is where the play is.

Movement is just about visible in this video...

http://youtu.be/MWgGVEyVP4E

I seem to remember this is an expensive one to fix... [:mad:]


 
Rob

Let me know what side and model year as i have a few complete good condition ones at the workshop.

cheers Elliot
 
Elliot,

1989 S2, left side (although the right side might be gone as well, not checked yet!)

Do you agree that mine is knackered? I assume there shouldn't be any play at all in the ball joint. A second hand one with a bit of life left in it sounds like a reasonable option...

Rob
 
Difficult to see with video Rob.

Make sure bolt securing wishbone joint to strut has not sheared causing excessive movement

I sell secondhand good ones for £45 but you can buy refurbished ones from certain people for approx £200.

cheers Elliot
 
Yup it has seen better days.

I would be tempted to try a Hartech arm. Yes they are pricey but if you are keeping the car for a while it should pay off. IME 944 arms are very easy to change.
 
Elliot,

I'll get back to you on the wishbone. I'm out of the country with work this week but when I get back I want to see what condition the other side is in. If that's bad as well I might as well do both of them and combine the postage. Will also do the ARB bushes at the same time as one of them I know is swollen with oil leakage. I can see this turning into another saga...

I heard the Hartech arms are good but to be honest it's been a bad month with insurance renewal, tax renewal plus we're trying to buy a house. £300 squids on two control arms would not go under the radar!

Is there any risk of catastrophic failure in the meantime? If the ball popped out of the joint that would make a real mess and probably cause a crash. Assuming there is some fail-safeness to it?

Rob

 
Rob,
when I put the gaz shocks on my car after about 500 miles I jacked the car up and noticed a lot of movement on the fron wheel. IT turned out to be the front wishbone bush. I replaced this together with rear casters and bought the balljoint kit from Travis at rennbay. He sells uprated ones.
 

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