Type 44 balljoint looseness.

[cobram at juno.com]

I've had problems with loose balljoints a couple of times on the '84 5KS.

I had a stripped out subframe attaching "nut" (the one that's caged
inside the frame) and decided to change it instead of doing the "nut on
top" route.  Well, that was LOTS of fun, finally slipped the new one in
the frame cradle via the hole under the plastic fender cover, getting it
to slide in with a little persuasion from an air chisel.  It was such a
PITA to get the new one in the frame/cage, should it ever strip again
I'll just ream out the OEM square nut and attach with a normal nut on top
of that.  Got an entire subframe from a car I was junking, changed all
the bushings etc.  When pulling out the old subframe....the balljoint was
sliding in and out (oh, I guess the noise wasn't the stripped out
subframe nut) even though there's a brand new control arm and balljoint
bolt on the car.  No matter how tight I put the bolt through the spindle,
the ball joint would still go up and down.  Sooo, today I decided to take
a whizzer to the split in the spindle....and what do I find....a sleeve
in the spindle, the balljoint goes into a sleeve.  I put the whizzer in
there, cut a slot in the sleeve as wide as the whizzer blade...popped the
balljoint in, new nut and bolt, and voila, for the first time in a very
long time the ball joint is tight and quiet.
I think the sleeve was probably worn just enough to cause slight play and
the balljoint to clunk once in a while, and the more it would move, the
more it would eat at the sleeve over time.  With the sleeve intact and
slightly worn, the pressure from the balljoint nut/bolt was not enough to
close up the sleeve enough to tighten the balljoint.  Only thing holding
the control arm in was the bolt itself, not good, as the play was already
wearing a notch in the new bolt.
Putting in a new spindle would also do the trick, although alot more work
and $$$ than a few minutes with a whizzer.  The 5KS is tighter than it's
ever been,  what a difference changing all the rubber bushings has made,
worth the effort in IMHO.

BCNU,
Cobram at Juno.Com
http://www.geocities.com/cobramsri/index.html
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