changing a ball joint for dummies
- Thread starter alwayslearning
- Start date
mushnt grummmble
Member
oh soo true, sometime it'd be easier to herd cats than teach humans
Ioan annwyl
Member
Boil a kettle, Slacken nut on tackrodend, apply pressure to T/R end to force taper out of cone, smartly whack housing to shock joint appart. Kettle's boiled, have a cuppa.
alwayslearning
Member
- Location
- Northumberland
Sorted.
Hammers did the job.
Had a little oh dear I'm stuck moment with tracked end (think it's called that)
Slackened nut off then left it on thread increased I missed with hammer freed the ball joint but then could not slacked nut off due to it still on lock tight and the bolt started spinning.
Mole grips on the boot of the ball joint managed to grip the bolt enough to slacken the nut.
Another question
how tight should I have gone on the castle nut against the bearing?
I just went tight with fingers then a tiny bit with spanner to get split pin lined up
Hammers did the job.
Had a little oh dear I'm stuck moment with tracked end (think it's called that)
Slackened nut off then left it on thread increased I missed with hammer freed the ball joint but then could not slacked nut off due to it still on lock tight and the bolt started spinning.
Mole grips on the boot of the ball joint managed to grip the bolt enough to slacken the nut.
Another question
how tight should I have gone on the castle nut against the bearing?
I just went tight with fingers then a tiny bit with spanner to get split pin lined up
Netherfield
Member
- Location
- West Yorkshire
I had a workshop manual for an Albion wagon, the engine,made by Leyland, had all the torque settings listed seperately.
All the other things needing a torque setting were refered to another page , here was listed all the various thread sizes and the maximum torque for each, so for example if the track rod end had a thread of 1/2 UNF you could look up the setting for this, if the split pin hole did not line up then it must be slackened back until it did , not further tightened as this could damage the thread. This was instead of listing u bolts , steering joints, spring hanger nuts and bolts seperately.
Look online, no doubt these settings will be listed somewhere.
All the other things needing a torque setting were refered to another page , here was listed all the various thread sizes and the maximum torque for each, so for example if the track rod end had a thread of 1/2 UNF you could look up the setting for this, if the split pin hole did not line up then it must be slackened back until it did , not further tightened as this could damage the thread. This was instead of listing u bolts , steering joints, spring hanger nuts and bolts seperately.
Look online, no doubt these settings will be listed somewhere.
- Location
- Agricultural Engineer, Lancashire
You need to be quite a bit tighter than that, I think the torque is around 170Nm? But I just bar them up tight as you are just pulling driveshaft into a double race bearing, no tapered rollers to preload. If you really want the actual torque I'll look it up. Done a lot of Gator wheel bearings whilst serving as a Deere mechanic.
Last edited:
- Location
- East Sussex
Leave the nut slack and drive it for a day or two, not on the road though.
Netherfield
Member
- Location
- West Yorkshire
Google 'Ball joint splitter'
Length of bar as a punch and a bigger hammer?
Yes but I can only get at one side of it and don’t want to smack it too hard because I don’t want to be replacing the casting!!!
Might try and ‘make’ some sort of tool....
- Location
- The North
heat upper part with turbo torch
All it should take is 1 GOOD crack with the hammer.
ACEngineering
Member
- Location
- Oxon
That's similar to kubota rtv. Tighten to certain torque then tighten to line up split pin if required.
davedb
Member
- Location
- Staffordshire
Warm it with the gas then hit it with a hammer it’ll fly off