Flavia Upper Ball joint replacement

[Angle Grinder]

I'm trying to decide whether or not the replacement of the upper ball joints on my 67 Flavia PF Coupe is a task within my mechanical capabilities.

I'm not too worried about my ability to get the leaf spring jacked up and restrained with a bracket. Disconnecting the ARB, damper and spring to wishbone buffer all looks to be straightforward and I have a Halfrauds "scissor" type ball joint splitter that looks, on dry runs, as if it will be able to separate the upper ball joint from the hub carrier.

What I am more concerned about is the removal of the ball joint from the upper wishbone as I have the earlier type of ball joint that is pressed into place. I see from various sources that there is a special Lancia tool that appears to consist of a sturdy metal cylinder that sits on top of the ball joint whilst you tighten a nut to pull the joint out of its seat.

In the absence of such tool, I'm thinking that I might be able to drift the ball joint out by fitting a sturdy oversize washer onto the shaft of the balljoint (with the nut re-attached to hold it in place) and then use a "pickle fork" and a lump hammer to "tap" and lever the ball joint out of its seat.

Once the ball joint is out, does the upper wishbone need to be removed in order to press the new ball joint in, or can it be adequately pressed into place without the need to use a heavy duty mechanical press such as indicated in the workshop manual.

I'm up for doing the job myself, but don't want to get so far into the strip down and then find that I've disabled the car and don't have the tools to complete the job safely, or at all!  

[Richard Fridd]

If anything like a fulvia, maybe easiest to remove the wishbone, which should be straight forward once the spring is clamped. If it is a pressed wishbone probably easier than a fabricated one, when it comes to the pressing in the new one, and removing the existing one for that matter. The driveshaft has always had to be disconnected to allow space to remove the ball joint nut in my experience.

[Angle Grinder]

Plenty of space between the tip of the upper ball joint and the outer CV joint. Enough to get the nut off... but the lower ball joint would be an interference fit.

[lancialulu]

I have done this with rudimentary tooling. After getting the hub out of the way I fitted an old large front brake disk drilled to go over the joint and fit the nut back then belt it with a club hammer. It eventually popped out. Replaced it by tapping it into the bishbone recess....

Be careful with pickle forks if you want to preserve ball joint gaiters.

[Angle Grinder]

Thanks Tim, that's the sort of guidance I was looking for. My main concern was really with the ease (or otherwise) of getting the new ball joint properly seated back in the "cup" recess of the upper wishbone.

One of the old boots is already goosed so not too worried about what happens to the ones that are coming off as I have nice new ball joints and boots from the Flavia Consortium to fit on.

Cheers All,
Mike

[Angle Grinder]

Having a hell of a time trying to remove the old ball joint from the upper wishbone. I’ve drilled a hole in an old brake pad which I slid over the top of the ball joint so that I can then whack the brake pad with a lump hammer. I’ve got the other end of the brake pad packed out so it has some leverage on the B-J and the upper wishbone is supported with a long block of wood wedged under it so it doesn't travel too much, but maybe I need to used something with less energy absorption?

B*st*rd B-J is not drifting out at all. What do you reckon, remove the whole upper wishbone and take it to a garage to try to pull the BJ out with some heavy bench press type equipment? I take it that removing the upper wishbone is no more complicated than undoing the castellated nut on the shaft and then sliding it out.

Also, is it normal  for the old buffers to get so compressed, getting the new one in is going to be a pain.

After abandoning the removal of the B_J....  I spent about an hour trying to get a new boot on to the lip of the retaining cover for the ball joint. So I can get the boot over the lip OK, but I can't then get the aluminium retaining “shim” over the boot. I was almost there but the shim nicked the boot and it started to tear.

Is there a technique that I am missing? Should I just grind off the lip on the cover plate?

[Dave Gee]

In the past I have taken the top wishbone off, and pressed out the ball joint. Before you fit the rubber suspension buffer you will need to shorten the four studs that are used to bolt it to the car, otherwise you will not be able to fit it to the car.
Dave Gee

[Richard Fridd]

Good idea Dave Gee. Although I thought the "buffer" should fit/squash in easily with the spring clamped, and the suspension on full droop (maybe with damper disconnected to achieve the fullest droop) Nothing further to add to my previous post regarding removing the wishboone, for better or worse. Easy job once in repose.

[Angle Grinder]

Any tips on how to get the rubber ball-joint boots correctly fitted. Easy enough to get the aluminium "gasket" thing onto the boot when it isn't fitted to the lip of the retainer. BUT, I couldn't find anyway to get the boot over the circular lip of the retainer with the "gasket" piece around the base of the boot.

Do I just not worry about seating the boot over the lip on the retainer and simply rely on the aluminium "gasket" piece to hold the boot in place once it is all tightened up en-situ?
OR, do folks grind the lip down a bit to make it easier for the boot to slip over it?