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Lower ball joint to replace extinct maxi ones.

jossey - 19/12/12 at 05:54 PM

As per the title has no one found a replacement for the 2 hole Austin maxi ball joint given they are becoming more expensive and more difficult to get hold of.

rdodger - 19/12/12 at 06:00 PM

Bottom Ball Joint, BL Maxi, Locost, Higman Brisca F2

No more expensive than others. I haven't found them difficult to get hold of. I even got replacement rubber boots off ebay.

jossey - 19/12/12 at 06:11 PM

Thanks for that :-) i had seen them, and rallydesign sell them too, Only issue I am finding is eurocarparts, partco n my usual places don't stock them anymore.

And I got ball joints from my local shop for Ł8 and same day so is a little more expensive.

David

[Edited on 19/12/12 by jossey]

loony - 19/12/12 at 09:12 PM

I'm making wishbones with Astra/Kadett balljoint... fits OK without reaming.

You can choose between Kadett and Astra F/Vectra...

Kadett:

Kadett balljoint

Astra F:

Astra F balljoint

In Poland Maxi balljoint is almost unavailable... or very expensive.

jossey - 19/12/12 at 09:57 PM

thanks for that.

i will give the astra ones a try :-) cheers

David

quote]Originally posted by loony
I'm making wishbones with Astra/Kadett balljoint... fits OK without reaming.

You can choose between Kadett and Astra F/Vectra...

Kadett:

Kadett balljoint

Astra F:

Astra F balljoint

In Poland Maxi balljoint is almost unavailable... or very expensive.

MikeRJ - 19/12/12 at 11:25 PM

Ensure any alternative ball joints are going to be reliable under the high pull out forces it will see in a Locost front suspension. Anything that comes from the bottom of a McPherson strut only has to deal with the relatively weak forces from the anti-roll bar.

loony - 20/12/12 at 07:22 AM

quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
Ensure any alternative ball joints are going to be reliable under the high pull out forces it will see in a Locost front suspension. Anything that comes from the bottom of a McPherson strut only has to deal with the relatively weak forces from the anti-roll bar.

Maybe, but I don't think that any ball joint is weaker than eg. Transit tie rod... used as upper ball joint.

Grimsdale - 20/12/12 at 08:29 AM

quote:
Originally posted by loony
Maybe, but I don't think that any ball joint is weaker than eg. Transit tie rod... used as upper ball joint.

Which doesn't take the weight of the car, like the bottom ones do.

Whatever you do, don't buy the rally design maxi ball joints - these are really poor quality. I've had two sets on my car - the first set i found 5-8mm vertical play in them after a couple of years. The next set i changed after about a year due to excessive play. Fitted quinton hazel units and had no problems since.

chillis - 20/12/12 at 12:36 PM

The Vauxhall part has the anti roll bar acting on it I believe so the forces it has to deal with under cornering loads are just as high.

MikeRJ - 20/12/12 at 06:33 PM

quote:
Originally posted by chillis
The Vauxhall part has the anti roll bar acting on it I believe so the forces it has to deal with under cornering loads are just as high.

Not so, it only has to deal with spring rate of the ARB, it still doesn't have the entire weight of the car trying to pull the ball out of the socket. Look at how flimsy the drop links are on production cars, there isn't a huge amount of force put through them.

They may be good enough, but I'd want to be pretty sure of that before trying it out on the road and having it fail.

jossey - 20/12/12 at 07:10 PM

quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ

quote:
Originally posted by chillis
The Vauxhall part has the anti roll bar acting on it I believe so the forces it has to deal with under cornering loads are just as high.

Not so, it only has to deal with spring rate of the ARB, it still doesn't have the entire weight of the car trying to pull the ball out of the socket. Look at how flimsy the drop links are on production cars, there isn't a huge amount of force put through them.

They may be good enough, but I'd want to be pretty sure of that before trying it out on the road and having it fail.

Ohhh this isn't looking as easy as I thought.

johnH20 - 31/12/12 at 02:48 PM

As above, I would not use a lower ball joint from a McPherson suspension on a wishbone front suspension due to the vertical pull out loads. If you used a ball joint from an SLA ( wishbone ) type GM small car like the HA and HB Viva, Chevette, Kadett and Manta ( all basically common I think ), these are designed for the appropriate spring on lower arm loads. With literally millions made I am sure spares must be available.

CNHSS1 - 22/1/13 at 12:40 PM

quote:
Originally posted by loony
I'm making wishbones with Astra/Kadett balljoint... fits OK without reaming.

You can choose between Kadett and Astra F/Vectra...

Kadett:

Kadett balljoint

Astra F:

Astra F balljoint

In Poland Maxi balljoint is almost unavailable... or very expensive.

does anyone know if the bolt pattern of above GM balljoints will bolt up to any existing wishbones on the market?
to save making some?

the bottom one looks as if two of the three holes may be same as Maxi etc?

cheers
CNH

[Edited on 22/1/13 by CNHSS1]

johnH20 - 22/1/13 at 01:47 PM

The illustrations above are not the ones from the vehicles I referred to. They look to me like something from a later Mcpherson suspension car. I could be wrong but I would not use them unless I was certain they were designed to take spring loads. As has been stated Mcpherson struts do not react spring loads though the ball joint. Take care.

CNHSS1 - 22/1/13 at 10:38 PM

My coilovers are mounted via top wishbone, lower wishbone doesnt take spring/damper loads.

Does anyone know the holes spacing of the pictured balljoints?