FL1 td4 lower suspension ball joint dust cover rotting…

Evening all (I could have been a copper!)

So Freddie passed his MOT today, with extra marks given to the tester for “that is clearly a well looked after Land Rover Sir”.

He had 1 advisory only… lower suspension arm ball joint dust cover deteriorated. Rather than ignore this at my peril, I’d rather get it done and sorted. My thoughts are; rather than faffing about trying to replace the rubber seal, just replace the whole arm and ball joint, on both sides. Are they fairly easy on the FL, with copious amounts of release spray? Thoughts?

Also, can I get the ball joint nut off, to disconnect the arm, without having to disconnect the driveshaft? (I REALLY hope so!)

The nut can be undone after soaking with an open ended spanner. I have a stubby strong but short spanner that I wack.
I always fit poly ball joint covers as the originals are rubbish and sometimes don't last 12 months.

I would recommend doing both sides at the same time.
There are youtube vids on this.
I went for the complete wish bone change as it comes with all the new bushes. Have had no problems since changing in 2017.

Would also advise doing the tracking after the jobs complete. Just to say, I took mine to have it tracked at a well known tyre station. Only to find that some thing was not quite right with the steering.
Not happy I obtained a Gunson track rite and did the tracking myself. Again, no problem.
No uneven tyre wear and steering spot on. Great piece of kit.

Cheers.

andyfreelandy said:

The nut can be undone after soaking with an open ended spanner. I have a stubby strong but short spanner that I wack.
I always fit poly ball joint covers as the originals are rubbish and sometimes don't last 12 months.

Click to expand...

Thanks Andy
Haynes says hub nut off (400lbs torque?!?), driveshaft out and all sorts. I reckon that nut might just slink off with the driveshaft in place, if the ball joint drops down a little?

MULDERKE said:

I would recommend doing both sides at the same time.
There are youtube vids on this.
I went for the complete wish bone change as it comes with all the new bushes. Have had no problems since changing in 2017.

Would also advise doing the tracking after the jobs complete. Just to say, I took mine to have it tracked at a well known tyre station. Only to find that some thing was not quite right with the steering.
Not happy I obtained a Gunson track rite and did the tracking myself. Again, no problem.
No uneven tyre wear and steering spot on. Great piece of kit.

Cheers.

Click to expand...

To be fair, I want to get the tracking checked anyway. I don’t ‘think’ it is out, just never had it done since I bought it!

Yes, done loads without taking out driveshaft. Just soak and allow to penetrate nut then tight fitting spanner and sharp wack !! Easier to split balljoint taper with a forked tool wedged in between hub and joint. Smacking the side of the hub near the taper on the ball joint sometimes works.

I guess the other (cop-out) alternative is just replace the ball joints themselves…?

Yes, but if the wishbones are original drilling the rivets out is a job for a tungsten drill bit and much staminer and accuracy.

andyfreelandy said:

Yes, but if the wishbones are original drilling the rivets out is a job for a tungsten drill bit and much staminer and accuracy.

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Ah yes… come to think of it, I dont recall seeing any nuts when I took a quick peek earlier today.
Bugger!

Freddie17 said:

Ah yes… come to think of it, I dont recall seeing any nuts when I took a quick peek earlier today.
Bugger!

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On the plus side. Many aftermarket lower arms have bolted in ball joints, making replacement easier.

Question;
so I have the replacement arms… which have NO new ny-lock nuts on the ball joint end (dispute my picture above, appears most full arm assemblies do not, only the separate ball-joint replacement kits).
Looks to be M14, which appears as rare as rocking horse crap… had a quick scoot about yesterday round the motor factors, but no luck. I could order some on inter web, but wanted to do the job this weekend really.

Haynes says to replace the nut with new… but then it also says to take half the car apart to do this job. Do you replace the nut Or have you reused?

Nylock nuts are designated as use once disposable parts.
However I've used them again if a replacement isn't available. A tap on the top of the nut with a hammer will compress the nylon insert, allowing it to grip a second time. I've also used thread locking component to retain them. The nylon insert is there to reduce the chance of the nut backing itself off, so anything that prevents this will work.

Oh. And the seller should really be providing replacement nuts, as they are required to carry out the replacement to the manufacturer's specifications.

Nodge68 said:

Nylock nuts are designated as use once disposable parts.
However I've used them again if a replacement isn't available. A tap on the top of the nut with a hammer will compress the nylon insert, allowing it to grip a second time. I've also used thread locking component to retain them. The nylon insert is there to reduce the chance of the nut backing itself off, so anything that prevents this will work.

Oh. And the seller should really be providing replacement nuts, as they are required to carry out the replacement to the manufacturer's specifications.

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I also thought about thread lock… never knew the trick about the tap with a hammer - nice one!
I’ve order some from Slamazon that should be here by 10 tonight, so will check the, ahem, ‘quality’ of nuts, and potentially use those tomorrow.
Cheers

Freddie17 said:

I also thought about thread lock… never knew the trick about the tap with a hammer - nice one!
I’ve order some from Slamazon that should be here by 10 tonight, so will check the, ahem, ‘quality’ of nuts, and potentially use those tomorrow.
Cheers

Click to expand...

I'd not be overly concerned on the ball joint TBH. In use the nut just holds the taper in, and isn't under any tension, other than that imparted by the bushes as the suspension droops. Which comes to the next important item. Make sure that the inboard bush bolt/nut are only tightened with the suspension at working height.