Some time ago I wrote about the quality of replacement ball joints and in particular the fact that the sourced lower joint came without a grease point. At that time I need to just replace the upper which was easy. At the last MOT it was noted that the offside lower was just showing movement and needed replacing but not urgently. Nine months on and a new MOT approaching I decided yesterday to do the iffy joint.

It is not an easy job with very little clearance to get the joint out once the taper is broken. I had to remove the top joint to allow movement of the hub and brake assembly and then release the four securing nuts. After a bit of language and jiggering out it came pin allowing the unit to be removed from the lower wishbone. Take care not to strain the brake hoses, and you will also have to be careful of the drive shaft boot which obscures the four se curing nuts.

The old unit came with four splined studs. Now the new unit. Not only had it no grease point it came with four bolts with nylon nuts. These are impossible to use so you will need to knock out the splinted studs and then put them into the new unit. The new units had no securing spring clips around the top of the boot, it was also noted that the old unit had a metal pad at the top of the dust boot whilst the replacement did not.

Replacement was the same in reverse with munch jiggling , more language, but in the end it all went together.

The joint used was from Chase Auto Parts part no EC007 A126. What concerns me is the following:

That the dust boot though tight is not secured to the pin,

That the said dust boot is in direct contact with the hub assembly,

That there is no facility to re grease the joint.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has used the same and how it has performed.