Ball Joint Q

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Guru Meditation
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Ball Joint Q

Post by Guru Meditation »

Hi all,
Nice to get a couple of bank holidays!
I haven't been here for a while, nice to see the place is still going strong and plenty of the same knowlegeable people are still around. I have been trying to solve this one myself for a while now-MOT is pending for renewal Jan 5th 2005 so I'm kinda bricking it now...My ZX td had been knocking from nearside front for a couple of months getting progressively worse over time. It also got to the point where handling was affected, steering left felt fine but steering right when you got to a certain point of lock and steering the car would suddenly steer 'a bit more' like some slack was being taken up in the susp. that was altering steering geometry. I suspected ball joint. Wheel off and sure enough the part of the ball joint that enters the hub was so loose it could move up and down at least 1cm[:0]
Bought and fitted a new ball joint (even the pivot part of the old one seemed fine) but still the problem persists-I don't know what's up; only thing I can think is that when I changed the old ball joint I never saw any 'plate' that the book of lies mentions. Is the problem likely to be play in the front hub itself, requiring renewal? I'm sure it's ball joint as handling is still affected; steer left and it feels so sure footed like a GTi, steer right and you can definately feel the steering going funny.
Any ideas?
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Guru Meditation
NiSk
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Post by NiSk »

Check the answer Alec got for his Xantia question. Otherwise you might have a worn attachment hole for the bottom ball joint - I assume you changed the fixing bolt?
Check the illustration on the followng link to see how it should all fit together.
http://citroeny.cz/servis/zxser/predni_naprava.jpg
//NiSk
ACTIVE8
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Post by ACTIVE8 »

Also if you refer to this thread it might be of assistance.
http://www.andyspares.com/discussionfor ... C_ID=10909
As there is information which might be relevant to your problem.
Good Luck [:)]
I hope you manage to identify the cause of the problem, and get it fixed so you can get your M.O.T. pass certificate [:)]
beezer
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Post by beezer »

You can always put it in for the test and see what it fails on. That way you know what to fix. It is the way it is done around here.
Guru Meditation
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Post by Guru Meditation »

Well my MOT cert ran out on 5th jan 05, took it for an MOT this saturday just gone. It failed....on ONE thing...play in nearside balljoint[xx(]
Not too bad to get one fail item on a car of this age....but p1ssing me off all the same. On the way home I swung by Citroen dealer instead of the local motor factor and picked up another new ball joint and also bought the fixing bolt this time, which I never changed last time.
Swapped the ball joint again this sunday (09/01/05). When the old balljoint was off I put my finger in the hole[:p] in the swivel hub that the ball joint shank fits into and could detect no real wear. Put the Citroen join in and fitted it with the new bolt, did it up FT so here's hoping...it's really beating the **** out of me because I don't see by what mechanism the frigging thing can come loose and rattle by.
Gonna drop it in for the retest today (monday) and I just hope it passes-even if it only holds for the test.
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

I had a similar problem on my now passed BX diesel.
But managed to find it before the car was on wheels again.
When lowering the car I noticed the swivel joint sort of moved in the control arm.
Lifted the car again - and yes the swivel joint bolt could move in the arm.
I found out I've missed a (rather thick) spacer under the nut, which then could not be torqued to hold the bolt.
The nut MUST be a fresh self locking type and torqued correctly. Another pitfall is greasing the tapered swivel bolt in the hole of the control arm. It MUST be fitted dry.
Guru Meditation
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Post by Guru Meditation »

Hi,
Well I got the MOT, thankfully! The morning of the retest the f*cking exhaust starting making a manic rattling (still doing it now, back end of the car, possibly heat shield loose) and I'm thinking it's gonna fail on that and the ball joint.
The new ball joint seems to be working out ok. I did indeed fit it dry as a bone although I must confess I didn't fit a new locking nut...just didn't think to get hold of one when I picked up the new bolt[B)] Gonna pick one up and fit it, not very hard just to swap the nut I shouldn't think. Handling is nicer now.
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