Thread: Steering ball joints

As I understand it S1,2 and 2A and some 3's should have the shouldered ball joints. The all-threaded ones are not suitable and have been known to let go leading to total loss of steering

Cheers Charlie

The ad is correct. The change to tie rod ends without the shoulder for clamping on was made during Series 3 production, and the tie rod end and the tube it screws into must be the same, as clamping between an unthreaded and plain section is unreliable, and has been documented as the primary cause of at least one fatal accident. It is clear that losing steering because a tie rod end has unscrewed is going to be embarrassing at a minimum. Using the wrong tie rod end for the tube would also quite rightly make the vehicle unroadworthy and would, probably, make insurance void if it contributed to an accident.

There is no problem with using the fully threaded end in any Landrover provided the tube it screws into is also fully threaded and has the correct clamp. This is easy for Series 2/3, since the tubes are the same size, but the track rod and drag link for the Series 1 would have to be specially made. (And no, you can't just thread the unthreaded bit of the tube, it is larger diameter)

John

common sense
clamp on the theads
will hold
xheers
Ian

Thats what I thought. I have clamped them up and cant move them with a pipe wrench