Thread: A-frame balljoints

get the adjustable one, they are easy to lube up clean and when they wear a bit and clunk you can adjust them.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

get the adjustable one, they are easy to lube up clean and when they wear a bit and clunk you can adjust them.

Yeh, I've had adjustable since you replaced mine years ago. In my wisdom, I've just ordered 2 spares from Paddocks, only to find they are the Lemforder jobs. Not sure what I'll do with them...

Apologies for the mild hijack but how do you actually adjust them. Mine has a very large slot in the top which I suppose you must turn to tighten It also looks like it has a slight indentation in the side of the body which perhaps help stops the adjustable centre from turning unless you bend it out. But like a lock tab washer works perhaps.

It's hard to see and access. Do you remove them to adjust or is there some special tool or trick to doing it in place. Mine has no obvoius wear or clunking but it did seem very easy to move the ball joint around when I pulled the a frame arms off when replacing the chasis bushes. FWIW I think mine is maxidrive and has been in place for well over 5 yrs. I am pretty happy with that particularly give no adjustment has been needed to date.

On advice from here, I ordered a Lemforder item, only to find my old one was adjustable, so I dismantled, cleaned, greased and reinstalled it.
Don.

Originally Posted by Trout

Apologies for the mild hijack but how do you actually adjust them. Mine has a very large slot in the top which I suppose you must turn to tighten It also looks like it has a slight indentation in the side of the body which perhaps help stops the adjustable centre from turning unless you bend it out. But like a lock tab washer works perhaps.

It's hard to see and access. Do you remove them to adjust or is there some special tool or trick to doing it in place. Mine has no obvoius wear or clunking but it did seem very easy to move the ball joint around when I pulled the a frame arms off when replacing the chasis bushes. FWIW I think mine is maxidrive and has been in place for well over 5 yrs. I am pretty happy with that particularly give no adjustment has been needed to date.

They're a little bit fiddly, but basically you knock the indents out of the outer locking ring to allow you to tighten the middle section using the big slot. Once you've tightened it, you knock the indents back in the outer ring to lock it again. A bit of a bugger, but a good idea none-the-less.

Some places sell them with a grease nipple in the top, but other's tap a thread and put a nipple in themselves.

Originally Posted by Trout

Apologies for the mild hijack but how do you actually adjust them. Mine has a very large slot in the top which I suppose you must turn to tighten It also looks like it has a slight indentation in the side of the body which perhaps help stops the adjustable centre from turning unless you bend it out. But like a lock tab washer works perhaps.



It's hard to see and access. Do you remove them to adjust or is there some special tool or trick to doing it in place. Mine has no obvoius wear or clunking but it did seem very easy to move the ball joint around when I pulled the a frame arms off when replacing the chasis bushes. FWIW I think mine is maxidrive and has been in place for well over 5 yrs. I am pretty happy with that particularly give no adjustment has been needed to date.

I doubt that too many get adjusted in situ......like yours mine didn't need adjusting in my ownership and given I did nothing to preserve the adjustment thread I always thought it would be mission to adjust.