Day 8, upper and lower ball joints, bleeding the front brakes

Evening Folks,

Today went quite a bit better  than yesterday since I was forewarned about the upper ball joint issues, namely that the aftermarket spring inside the upper ball joint was too thick.  The supplier I use is one of the best but I get the impression that corners are being cut somewhere along the supply chain.  For instance the Lemforder lower ball joints used to come with 4 bolts, a washer and a nut for the end of the ball joint, neither ball joint came with them this time.  The upper ball joints, as I mentioned had a spring that was too thick, even clamping without any shims I couldn't get the snap ring installed.  Then there was the fact that the threads for the grease zerk had to be tapped to get it to thread, thankfully I discovered this before they were assembled and I didn't have to worry about 'swarf' getting into the ball joint.  Sorry to belabor this but it is quite frustrating particularly when you see the parts getting worse over time.


At any rate I was able to assemble the suspension on both sides with new ball joints, the old tie rod ends were still snug so they didn't need to be replaced however I had to find some gators as the were both shot on close inspection and I was able to find a couple in my parts supply and I didn't have to wait for an order to get the front suspension reassembled!

This is the cap for the upper ball joint that was incompletely taped for the grease zerk, not a big deal but glad I caught it before it was installed.
Lemforder lower ball joint,  a marked improvement over the OEM Ball joint, sealed and lubed for life unit, however in the past when I've installed them they came with the bolts, washer and nut, cost cutting? 

Passenger side after the ball joints had been popped apart but not removed, the gators were toast!

Using the old bolts requires that they be shortened about a 1/4". No biggie but still takes time

Needs a little cleaning but ready for the new ball joints,  I decided not to disassemble the calipers or remove the hub in order to save a little time.  A little awkward to work with but saved a fair amount of time and effort.

New upper ball joint, getting ready for the hub/rooter



I was able to get the front brakes bled today but ran out of time for the rear, will do them tomorrow and hoping that I'll be able to bleed them without removing the front rear shock for access since my lift allows a little better access.  Will see and keep you posted, hoping to get the new pipes in tomorrow too but that will depend on how fast bleeding the rear brakes goes.  Toodalou!


Cheers,
Lynn


6 hrs

Comments

  1. Drew ScherzAugust 16, 2020 at 6:43 PM

    The bolts I reused on my Lemforders were a wee bit long as you mentioned. My new Lemforders did not come with bolts and the old ones appeared to work okay. I need to take another look.

    ReplyDelete

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