Thread: Drop arm ball joint cover plate falls off

Originally Posted by radars

Hi,
(1986 3.5 County)
For the second time in as many months ive lost the cover plate for the drop arm ball joint. I lost the first one after owning county for just over a year. At that time i had a new ball joint installed but have just lost that cover plate too.
Has this happened to anybody before? Both times ive seen that the circlip was present, so somehow its come off. It there too much strain/wear somewhere that may cause this.
The second came off while doing a u-turn, not totally sure about 1st, but was during 4x4ing in dunes.
Is the ball joint pushing the cover plate off when at steering limit (perhaps with a bit of flex)

Any help appreciated.
Andrew

Sounds almost impossible. I have fitted up a few and can't imagine how you could lose the cover with the circlip still in place.

I normally use a jack and socket with extension bar to press the cover plate up and fit the circlip. Once the jack is let down I then make sure the circlip is properly fitted using a drift tapping it in.

The plate has a beveled edge do you put this facing up or down? It should be bevel up to allow for the rubber o'ring.

The only possible reasons I can see for this is either the circlip is not in properly, or the groove it goes into is either damaged or has foreign material in the groove stopping it from seating properly. The load on the circlip will increase when impact loads are applied to the joint, but should not change with position, and in any case even severe impacts should not dislodge it.

John

or the circlip is either failing or inserted the wrong way around.

Originally Posted by MinniTheMoocha

Sounds almost impossible. .

Sounds impossible to me too.

Maybe someone is fitting the circlip first and then just pushing the cover up after the circlip.

Maybe someone whacked the drop arm hard enough for the eye to go out-of-round.

Originally Posted by radars

Hi,
(1986 3.5 County)

[snip]
Both times ive seen that the circlip was present, so somehow its come off.
[snip]
Any help appreciated.
Andrew

I think we are all misinterpreting what you are saying.

So you are saying that the circlip had been installed, has since fallen out and the covers obviously gone too ?

Or that the cover has gone and the circlip is still there ? (which would be impossible)

The circlips can be a bugger to get seated properly, and as Dave said, there's a right way and wrong way to install circlips.
If you look at the clip, there will be a flat face and radiused face, the radiused side faces in (up)