front ball joint help
Turbo Mini Forums

hi was wondering if anyone could explain to me about the front ball joints how tight i need them how many shims etc im new to mini,s and have only renewed rubber ones should they be really tight or have a slight play on the balls i have ordered 2 repair kits is this 1 repair kit each side top and bottom or is there 2 types and you get both but only use 1 hence do i need 4 repair kits any advice and tips greatly appreciated hopefully mini,s on the road tomorow please give me some advice thanks

First of all one repair kit does a side of the car, so one kit does the upper and lower joint.

The only difference between the two is that the lower joint has the spring underneath it, when you take the old ones off you will see what I mean.

When shimming them up you should do them so that with the big domed nut torqued up, the pin is stiff to rock side to side, but there is no movement up and down. Shim the lower one without the spring in to set it right, then as the last job before torquing the dome nut the last time and peening over the locktab, fit the spring.

Edited by Tom Fenton on 11th Nov, 2008.

Exactly as above but leave the spring out of the bottom one while you are trying the different shims and only put it in after you have selected the right shims.

Otherwise it can give you a false sense of "tightness" whilst playing with the shims.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

thanks for info much appreciated

youtube.. already done like 3 full sets and im onto my 4th but all you need to know is here

Clicky

enjoy:)

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

The pins should be hard to move by hand but should move ok with a small ring spanner on them if that makes sense.

job done thanks brett for video made everything understandable thought it would be a nightmare getting them undone but turned out to be nice easy job thanks to all for help