Hi guys, what a PITA, according to MOT guy you’re supposed to replace the entire arm as the ball joint assembly is all one fixed unit. Sod that. Has anyone used a split gaiter as below please or can advise?
Technical Ball joint gaiter MOT failure advice please.
- Thread starter Dervdrain
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Technical Ball joint gaiter MOT failure advice please.
Only the MOT tester can advise you as to whether they'd accept such a repair. They might pass and advise, which will leave a permanent public record on the vehicle's history that the owner has done a bodge repair - not helpful if you ever want to sell the car.
Personally I'd just fix this properly and replace the suspension arm, they're not expensive. Chances are that water & grit have already got in, and lubricant has got out, through the failed seal. There's no way you can clean this or regrease it properly, so this kind of repair will likely fail outright in a short while. And sticking a split gaiter together is a nightmare; adhesives & grease just aren't compatible.
I'd agree the job is a PITA on the 500, since the bumper and lower crossmember have to come off to gain access. But do yourself a long term favour and get the job done right first time.
Personally I'd just fix this properly and replace the suspension arm, they're not expensive. Chances are that water & grit have already got in, and lubricant has got out, through the failed seal. There's no way you can clean this or regrease it properly, so this kind of repair will likely fail outright in a short while. And sticking a split gaiter together is a nightmare; adhesives & grease just aren't compatible.
I'd agree the job is a PITA on the 500, since the bumper and lower crossmember have to come off to gain access. But do yourself a long term favour and get the job done right first time.
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As above. Only right answer is to replace the arm. As said above, you cannot clean out the grit that is already in there, which will have already caused some wear to the ball and socket. That wear will accelerate, even with new grease and a new gaiter. Soon you will need a new arm due to the ball joint wear, as well as a new tyre due to the uneven wear caused by the play in the ball joint. Cheaper overall to replace the arm complete. That also gets you new inner bushes. The inner rear bush is the one that normally fails first, and generally has a lifespan of around 5 years/40k miles, although some last longer, or fail sooner.
Then comes another kicker, best practice is to replace both together. But once the bumper is off, doing the second one takes only a little longer.
At 70k+ miles, chances are the other side will fail next year, either for the same fault, or for worn bushes as suggested in the previous post.
I'd replace both too. And after changing the arm, the tracking will need to be checked; do both sides now and you'll only have this expense once.
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
I have used split gaiters for CV joints and totally successful. You will find gwtting grease onto the ball joint and super glueing it after on such a small component very taxing I suspect. On a bigger CV joint it worked really well and performed as if it were a full proper boot. I have recently seen ball joint inserts for Panda arms on sale (eBay) but have no idea if they really work. I may order one and see what it looks like.
Split ball joint boots....how the heck is anyone going to have enough room to wrap it around the pin , keep it clean so glue works and glue the join? There is insufficient room with everything assembled.
A normal ball joint boot can be fitted to the lower ball joint but the replacement ball joint boots tend to need replacing every year (Very poor quality)
A normal ball joint boot can be fitted to the lower ball joint but the replacement ball joint boots tend to need replacing every year (Very poor quality)
It was fiddly and brain taxing but with patience possible and worked fine - more importantly MOT man was perfectly happy.
I'm not saying it's the right way or the best way (absolutely not) but when you're in a sticky situation and need a quick cheap fix to get you out of trouble, does it work? Yes.
I'm not saying it's the right way or the best way (absolutely not) but when you're in a sticky situation and need a quick cheap fix to get you out of trouble, does it work? Yes.
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Hi,
Thanks for the update.
Omg you did well to get that to work, well done. Did you disconnect the ball joint from knuckle or leave everything assembled?
Cheers
Jack
Nothing disconnected - just had to scrupulously clean everything, reinject grease and then as you can imagine trying to superglue a very tight, inaccessible, floppy, rubbery, super thin, stretchy boot around an equally inaccesible grease covered thing was trying to say the least... 
I've replaced split/knackered dust boots, with replacement boots but they were not "cut".
You need to disconnect the wishbone arm pin from the hub, cut off the split one (also removing the wire circlips) and then just fit the new boot over the pin.
Trickiest part is getting the circlip over the boot flange... so buy a few in case you rip one.
As above, if your old boot is knackered and there's a load of grit in there, this is only a get-MOT hack.. the pin will likely wear out very fast, so budget for a new pair of arms. If your boot is just a tiny bit perished, slight split but not letting in dirt, then you can do the boot swap.
Ralf s.
You need to disconnect the wishbone arm pin from the hub, cut off the split one (also removing the wire circlips) and then just fit the new boot over the pin.
Trickiest part is getting the circlip over the boot flange... so buy a few in case you rip one.
As above, if your old boot is knackered and there's a load of grit in there, this is only a get-MOT hack.. the pin will likely wear out very fast, so budget for a new pair of arms. If your boot is just a tiny bit perished, slight split but not letting in dirt, then you can do the boot swap.
Ralf s.
If you're keeping the car for the next few years replace the control arms, both of them.
It's a bumper off job, this in itself can be quite a pain if it's not been off for years, allow a whole weekend for the job, with good weather, you'll need a breaker bar and Torque wrench too, note cheap arms don't include a new pinch bolt(required) more expensive do
It's a bumper off job, this in itself can be quite a pain if it's not been off for years, allow a whole weekend for the job, with good weather, you'll need a breaker bar and Torque wrench too, note cheap arms don't include a new pinch bolt(required) more expensive do
Really glad my wife has normal arms...
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Ill bet my life they are still CONTROL arms though.Really glad my wife has normal arms...
