lower ball joint issue?

[jamezz666]

Hello,

just refurbing my lower arms and the lower ball joint appears to have very minor play.. maybe next to no play at all, but the issue at question is the shaft turns seperately to the ball and i'm wondering will this still be good to use? the ball turns and so does the shaft, just they dont turn together. All ball joints i've had in the past always appeared to have the shaft and ball fixed to one another. The shaft doesn't have any play between it and the ball, so it makes me wonder what holds the shaft to the ball? and would it matter if they spin seperately, because on the car the shaft wouldn't spin anyway as it would just move back and forth with the ball.

Regards
James

[droopsnoot]

I can't say I've ever checked, but it doesn't sound correct to me. I always thought that part was made as one and machined down. What make of ball joint is it? There were some around a few years ago that were sub-standard.

[jamezz666]

I'm unsure on the make but it's going to be something other than them modern repro's that had failure problems, as the car was in storage for round about 20 years and that ball joint was fitted long before the car was stored.
Both me and my dad thought the same, that the part was made as one piece.. but it appears that it's not. The tapered shaft doesn't push in or pull out or unscrew, so i can only imagine that it would have some sort of head on the end of it which is hidden inside the ball.

James

[droopsnoot]

Is it possible that the part that your lower arrow points to is the bearing, rather than the stud? I had a quick look at this page:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10. ... %20a%20jig.

which suggests that the bearing sits between the stud (the bit that goes up through the hub carrier / upright) and the socket (the bit that presses into the lower arm). That would imply that there should be some movement there, because the stud can turn and the bearing cannot because of the grooves that you can just about see.

I started reading some of the text but my eyes glazed over, and it was just the first thing I found. I was searching for how ball joints are made, to see if the centre is made separately from the ball.

[HC Fairley]

Does this help?

I don't see how the ball could move separately to the shaft when you can't actually see the ball and its all one piece

Do you mean the seal is turning separately to the shaft rather than the ball?

[jamezz666]

The threaded/tapered part, spins seperately to the ball it sits (the ball part that is meant to move)
Please see my video i made it will make more sense. I marked both parts with tipex.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qF-RRuq9x0c

James

[HC Fairley]

See what you mean now

I don't think its an issue as long as you don't have any play or knocking

Its never going to work its way out of that cup so I don't see it being anything to worry about but if you really wanted to change it for peace of mind that would be fair enough

[jamezz666]

Both me and my dad was discussing this.. as we both was under the impression both parts was as one, but we can only come to the conclusion, that the tapered/threaded shaft, must have a head on it preventing it from coming out.
Other than the two parts moving, there's no play in it whatsoever and i think i'll go ahead and use it.

thanks for the replies.

James

[StefanM]

you have the answer in post5....the balljoint you have is the LH one and the pin and bearing is separate as per picture. They will not spin as you describe under load.