Can You Replace Upper Wishbone Ball Joints?

Michael said:

the upper wishbones re a fortune, and my ball joints are totally shot.

Can you replace these at all?

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We had a discussion about this at a local Nutz meet the other week. Whilst the balljoint itself can be removed and replaced with careful use of a hydraulic press, it would seem it is not available as a new part.

BALLS!

they are ?150 EACH. EACH!!!!!

Michael said:

they are ?150 EACH. EACH!!!!!

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?171+ for a Mk1 wishbone at MX5 Parts.

There are aftermarket manufacturers that can supply the lower balljoint and track rod ends, you would think that one of them would step in and seize the opportunity to take the market for the upper balljoints as well.

I'm going to order some boots and hope, it looks like its just the boots that are split.

Failing that it will be a furtive call to autolink.

I am enjoying the spiralling bill of my suspension rebuild!

I am looking for a suppy of the ball joints by themselves to put into tubular arms. No one seems to know where the ball joint comes from on its own and so far looking through the ball joint parts books, no match is readily out there. But they must exist as the tubular arms from USA have the ball joints in. Quite possibly I will be matching the taper only but it would be nice to find the exact part.

Malcolm said:

I am looking for a suppy of the ball joints by themselves to put into tubular arms. No one seems to know where the ball joint comes from on its own and so far looking through the ball joint parts books, no match is readily out there. But they must exist as the tubular arms from USA have the ball joints in. Quite possibly I will be matching the taper only but it would be nice to find the exact part.

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i asked on locostbuilders and apparently they're using track rod ends off a BMW with something like an m16 threaded shank. there are a few more light commercial alternatives too. just search indykid and mx5 on there and you should find my post.

not sure an m16 shank would do for a 1 tonne mx5, especially with track rubber, though on a locost, it'd be fine. i haven't done the maths for the unsuitability, it's just a guesstimate.

i was after something like a maxi balljoint with a bolted flange but they don't seem to exist. your only other options are spherical bearings or reaming the upright for a different BJ
tom

indykid said:

reaming the upright for a different BJ

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Is that a euphemism?

I wanted to avoid modding the upright as any spares would have to be modded as well, but certainly it is a solution. However one good point to note is that the upper arm is actually very light to begin with and because you can fit better bushes, is there really a need to change it for a tubular arm apart from aesthetics? I am beginning to think I will have to live with it for now. M16 would be fine IMHO if the joint was changed as you suggest. M16 is chunky!