Ball Joint Circlips-?

[Marky]

Hey All
Been Building a new front end for my beddy...

Put new Ball joints in my lower control arms..

but in the top ones..some dodgy bastard has welded in the ball joints.

.obviously too lazy to find a circlip..well dangerous too...

So my new top ball joints Dont come with Circlips..

Any ideas..as where to find them...Bearing shops etc?


thanks
marky

[Worzel]

have you tried a wrecker?.
you might find it easier to replace the arms than clean up the welds.

They must be avaliable from a good old fashioned engineer (y'know the sort, hundreds of boxes and tubs covered in dust on rows of old dark shelves)

[Marky]

These are the replacement arms ..i took them  off a wreck i have in my yard

Changing my current disc brake setup ..for new one off wreck..doing it bit by bit

hmmmm.....an old man with lots of boxes of stuf..is what i shall look for

[Dave]

Marky
I am guessing it isnt the circlip that is at fault.

When I replaced my ball joints a few weeks ago (see earlier post) one of the uppers was welded in.
After taking it out grinding the wishbone smooth and fitting the new balljoint we found the circlip wouldnt fit because the hole in the wishbone was plated as the hole for the ball joint was flogged out and the plate made it too wide to fit the circlip.

Before fixing it when I turned the wheel the balljouint turned in the hole rather than then bearing turning.

I am guessing you may be in the same boat and your wishbone is flogged.
If you are going to replate the hole you will need to ensure the plate is the right width and cut out the previous hole enough so there is only one thickness or else the circlip wont go on.  The alternatives are 1) get a new wishbone 2) repair the hole so it is no thicker than the original plate 3) wels in your ball joint like the previous dodgy bastard did.

By the way I was 200kms from home so the only way I could get home was to re-weld my new ball joint back in.

Check your wishbone before you bugger around with looking for a clip that may not fit.

Dave

[ben]

how come everyone thinks its dodgey to weld a ball joint to the wishbone? got to be stronger than a little circlip.. just not so easy to replace it..

ps.. ive never changed a ball joint yet cause ive got too many good second hand ones laying around still..

ben

[Warren]

Ben

Welds can suffer from fatigue fractures (cracking or worse) particularly in areas of high stress and/or vibration. welding can lock in stress between the metals fused together, and stress  relieving is done by evenly heating the whole welded component up, and then letting it cool in a controlled way.

All this can spell danger for an high loaded component like a wishbone.

Early Holden's used to rivet them in, the knurling and pressing is a cheaper alternative, but as others have said, can chop out over time.

Warren 

[eddy]

hey warren bro, are you still in the welding game, I got a bit that needs doing,send me a PM 

[hammers_spanners]

Not to mention the heat could destroy the grease.

[Marky]

got it sorted..thanks .....hunted thru my wrecks  n bits n found some circlips


Picked up my new Hq Calipers today  yay!

New Brake Lines..N Caliper Overhaul..new seals n pistons

All sandblasted n repainted $280...was a bit over budget but thought...theres no point in half doing it

Stoked loooks good n will work as new

[druid]

I have worked on many cfs over the years and have yet to find one that did not have the lower ball joints welded in. Would love to find somewhere that has the new rubber boots in stock though