Phil349 wrote:After what was detailed in this thread about the special T auto ball joints:
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1792I did some research to see what else might be available and might work and decided to order a Lotus Esprit lower ball joint (also same as used on the mk1 astra) to have a look at and found it looks more or less spot on, correct casing height, thick base like the oem joint, the tapered shaft is correct, etc. Only thing is they are a little to big in diameter and dont have a cir clip groove.
I had it modifed by machining the casing down to get the right diameter (doesnt need much taking off though), obviously this removed the knurled finish so that was put back in after the machining, cut a groove for the cir clip to fit into and drilled a hole in the shaft for the split pin. This all worked out fine and all dimensions matched the OEM joint, the tapered shaft fits the hole in the steering knuckle very well, significantly better than the special T joint.
I was a little concerned about the stregnth compared to the OEM joint as its an unknown and attemped to stress test it, but without access to specialist equipment I could only put 1.5 ton of force attempting to pull the shaft out from the socket through the ball joint, both joints take this fine. It would be better to test it further but I had spent long enough on all this and wanted the car back together! And seeing as the design of the ball joint is right and the esprit suspension puts force on the joint in the same way as the deloreans suspension does I felt it worth trying.
I got another two ball joints had them modified in the same way and now have them on the car, so far, roughly 1000 miles of use later and they seem fine still. I will be checking it every so often in the same way Darren has said though.
They come with Nylock nuts but ive used castle nuts instead. And i mean proper sized castle nuts, not the low profile ones you get with the special T joints!
Here are some pics, shown after pressing into the lower arms. After these were taken cir clips were fitted as normal, the joint packed out with bearing grease and boots fitted.
These joints are made by Delphi, part number AK40D.
Its a little work to use these but I feel better using these than the special T or DMCH ones to be honest. But I do understand the special T ones have worked and are still working for a lot of poeple just fine and thats great, but its down to what each person feels comfortable with at the end of the day.