Thread: Boge Load Leveller On Early Classics

Originally Posted by Davo

Aww, you beat me to it, but that's pretty much what I did. I had one bolt in at the A-frame balljoint bracket and used a trolley jack under the lower balljoint of the leveller to get it up and into place. Nice write-up!

I had to fit the thing! Didn't want to pester you for your write up.
Pleased to know you encountered the same situation for the A-frame pivot bolt. Thanks for the reassurance
Pushed,prodded and pondered for some time, on my back, under the car before I bit the bullet and put the jack under the leveller!
Cobber (my blue heeler) went to sleep next to the car waiting

Cheers,
Richard

Thanks Jack, some great info in this thread. Only thing extra I would have done is drilled and tapped the ball joint housings for a grease nipple.

Originally Posted by uninformed

Thanks Jack, some great info in this thread. Only thing extra I would have done is drilled and tapped the ball joint housings for a grease nipple.

Interesting thought.

However, the grease is fully contained in a nylon cup, which is a precise fit into the base of the ball joint threaded socket.
A grease nipple would destroy the sealing integrity of the nylon cup and introduce grease around the sides of the cup, possibly forcing it out of the threaded socket housing.



Here is a ball joint assy with cup in place, fully sealed.



Here is the interior sealing lip and the reinforced sealing face of the nylon cup.

Torquing the socket to 70nm seals the head of the nylon cup to the socket.
Evidenced by the red grease from the cup being forced into the area occupied by the ball thread as shown in one of the images contained in post #29 (8th image down).

The condition of the grease in both ball joints was good and uncontaminated.
A donor wreck, which (I suspect) was driven to a rusty finish on the beaches in Tassie also showed no contamination of the grease as well as full grease cups.

I replaced the ball joints on mine, as I'd bought new ones in anticipation of finding an impending failure. The lower joint was re-used, being in perfect condition. They last a long time.

Cheers,
Richard

well ill have to let you know if mine is a failure

The balljoints on the old wreck I pulled apart looked great as well. And they were very original-looking. In fact, I think I kept them as spares.

I did not get a chance to dig mine out today (not fitted yet) but if it looks like the grease nipple idea is no good, all I need to do is source the upper and lower mounting brackets. They are the only 2 parts that are modded at this stage.

I recall when I did one about 20 years ago that the machining on the ball joints was incorrect and the joints had play from new.
I remember Graeme Cooper machining a bit off the rim? of the threaded part to make the fit correctly.
Just something to check before final assembly, before putting grease in or you will have a built in clunk when unladen.
As I type this I have this niggling thought that they shouldn't have grease in them and that is why the cup is nylon.
Regards Philip A

Hi Philip,
Yes, they should have grease in them, the factory manual says it should, in both the 1st and 5th Editions, unless something changed between 1970 and 1985. See below for a copy of the factory workshop manual page.
When torquing the socket to 70nm, you check there is no play and the ball itself is quite firm to move.
The OEM type replacement nylon cups now even have a grease groove.

Cheers,
Richard



The grease grooves aren't that easy to see, they are in a tristar shape.