Drop arm misery

I changed the balljoint on the casted bugger about a year ago. It was a right sod.

Then driving down the road today my steering went loonytunes in the snow.. i managed to find a place to pull over and found that the bottom of the balljoint has disappeared!

It was great fun driving back home

Anyway, time to do the disco conversion. I've searched and searched but I can't find the part number of the drag link I need. So far I've found a few which are iirc 79cm,88cm or 97cm. I have also found the sumo upgrade kit which uses a 93cm bar (but I'm doing this on the cheap).

Anyone shed any light onto this, and the part number would be ace

have you seen this???????

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f41/drop-arm-ball-joint-renewal-63811.html

Thor1950 said:

have you seen this???????

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f41/drop-arm-ball-joint-renewal-63811.html

Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't want to do that anymore as it is a right pain in the chuff.

I'm going to switch the drop arm to a disco and use tre's

NTC 8390 is the Disco series 1 drag link, you'll also need a steering damper bracket.

Malcolm

Dads toy said:

NTC 8390 is the Disco series 1 drag link, you'll also need a steering damper bracket.

Malcolm

Click to expand...

I was unsure as the sumo bar in the kits is 903mm and ntc8390 is 863mm. You sure? Cheers

The length of the drag link is approx 924mm between the centre of the ball joints according to Rave if that helps. The Disco drop arm sits in exactly the same place as the dreaded ball joint so that's what you need to set it up. 903mm would appear to be too long as when you put the tre's on it will exceed that, 863mm looks a better length.
I'll measure mine tomorrow (I have a sumo bar and disco drop arm) and confirm.
hth

Malcolm

I've just been out and measured mine!
They're genuine Sumo bars (from Gwyn Lewis) on a 90 with a Disco drop arm.
The drag link is 830mm, the track rod (behind the axle) is 1130mm.
You need to be able to screw the tre's in/out from a starting point of 924mm to adjust the steering.

Try unscrewing the swan neck from your original drag link and then measure that, if it's ball park then you've saved even more!

Malcolm

Dads toy said:

I've just been out and measured mine!
They're genuine Sumo bars (from Gwyn Lewis) on a 90 with a Disco drop arm.
The drag link is 830mm, the track rod (behind the axle) is 1130mm.
You need to be able to screw the tre's in/out from a starting point of 924mm to adjust the steering.

Try unscrewing the swan neck from your original drag link and then measure that, if it's ball park then you've saved even more!

Malcolm

Click to expand...

Great, thanks for doing that Malcom!

I don't know where I got 903mm/930mm from for the sumobar, I meant 830mm

So, I went out and measured.

Middle of the balljoint to tre is roughly 880mm.
The drag link is roughly 770mm. swan + ball is roughly 80mm. tre is roughly 30mm.

drag link / cross rod tubes
NTC8390 is 880mm
ANR2860 is 790mm
NRC1824 is 830mm < same as sumo length

Costing it up, it's only twenty or so quid more for a kit with uprated bars.

When I put my Sumo bars on, the drag link rubbed on the original guard which is just a U shaped channel. I took it off and now have a substantial guard with towing eyes fitted. Something to watch out for.

Malcolm

Will do! I'm not sure mine has any guard on. Too much snow to dig out to have a look

...... silly question, but with a new drop arm complete w balljoint to fit what you've already got at about £50, wouldn't that be cheaper...? But I guess its then just a tre when the blighter packs in next time..... ok, answered my own question. As you were..... A

I still haven't got around to sorting this!

Cheapest option is the balljoint repair kit, it's like a fiver

Second cheapest is second hand stuff from a disco 20-30quid inc a steering box!

then britpart disco1 hd kit + droparm £80ish

then sumo bar £110 ish

I got bored and spent waaaaay too much time looking into this

You could have replaced the balljoint quicker than all this thinking about it

haha, ain't that the truth! but it's well cold out there and i'm a big girl

Well tuck your skirt in to your pants and get it sorted!!!

Original ball joint is easy to do with a jack and sockets then a bolt and flange nut to remove top ball seat.
How ever I put one of the cheap ones in and the gaiter/Dust seal broke in a matter of weeks. I replaced just the cap two time and it has still perished and broken. I've checked the steering rod tre is in line and not twisted??
Maybe just because cheap. Ball joint itself is great but Britpart seem to have put a cheap rubber dust cover on it which I believe is a MOT failure when perished or torn.
So not good!!

James

it's the spring and bottom plate that's a right bugger, keeps slipping about, even with a socket and bottle jack

Cast lip on my arm is pretty much gone too.

You can buy boots separate boots now btw.

trax said:

it's the spring and bottom plate that's a right bugger, keeps slipping about, even with a socket and bottle jack

Cast lip on my arm is pretty much gone too.

You can buy boots separate boots now btw.

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Yes it can be a bit tedious. Don't use a small socket - use the largest one you can. Also it helps if the car is level otherwise the socket will slip out because the bottom plate is slanted. I found my trolley jack to give better results.
The lip from memory isn't much to start with anyway so thats probably okay.

Yes you can get the dust cover on it's own thats how I've managed to replace it twice, but I've only found Britpart ones
(A0408)
If you know of a gen one then please let me know as the Britpart one don't even come close to there 24 month guarantee!!!

currymunster said:

Yes it can be a bit tedious. Don't use a small socket - use the largest one you can. Also it helps if the car is level otherwise the socket will slip out because the bottom plate is slanted. I found my trolley jack to give better results.
The lip from memory isn't much to start with anyway so thats probably okay.

Yes you can get the dust cover on it's own thats how I've managed to replace it twice, but I've only found Britpart ones
(A0408)
If you know of a gen one then please let me know as the Britpart one don't even come close to there 24 month guarantee!!!

Click to expand...

try universal ones, ebay "Ball Joint Boots".

The bearmach boot didn't split.

trax said:

try universal ones, ebay "Ball Joint Boots".

The bearmach boot didn't split.

Click to expand...

Cool - I think I'll try them. They certainly look better than the britpart one.
Incidently there is a tool to remove the top ball seat DA1125 on paddocks.
Also on ebay LAND ROVER STEERING DROP-ARM BALL JOINT REMOVAL TOOL | eBay

I never bought one. It is a Britpart. I not as adverse to Britpart as others. You just have to be carefull. Some is great and some is darn right crap!! I just used an old bolt and flange nut with an angle grinder blade at the bottom!! Yes it worked a treat.

James