s40/v40 new bottom ball joint size problems

[Miketwovolvos]

Just to alert folks to this...I have a 99 s40 and I have replaced a couple of bottom ball joints in the last ten years. I bought a new one last week and tried to fit it yesterday..too small..it measures 39.9mm around the knurled area (so it grips when pressed in) but the old one measured 40.3 mm. That .4 of a mm makes a massive difference..the new balljoint just flopped about in the control arm space.. I tried three different manufacturers and they were all the right ones for the car but they were all 39.9 mm..

I would be very interested if anyone else as had this problem..I asked the guys at work for some shim steel (0.1 mm) and made shim for it, held it on with superglue and eventually managed to press it in with the aid of some copper ease. The circlip was popped in and it looks like its all good. The ebay guys I bought it for swore blind it was for my car and this does check out. They refused to take it back, but did reimburse me. What a hassle though..nightmare to fit..Also, getting the balljoint 19mm nut bolt on and off..there is no clearance for anything but a 19mm open ended spanner, so you effectively cannot torque it accurately, but it is a lock nut so it should be OK..the old was so hard to remove I just hacksawed it off..

What a pain in the arse...

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Miketwovolvos

Just to alert folks to this...I have a 99 s40 and I have replaced a couple of bottom ball joints in the last ten years. I bought a new one last week and tried to fit it yesterday..too small..it measures 39.9mm around the knurled area (so it grips when pressed in) but the old one measured 40.3 mm. That .4 of a mm makes a massive difference..the new balljoint just flopped about in the control arm space.. I tried three different manufacturers and they were all the right ones for the car but they were all 39.9 mm..

I would be very interested if anyone else as had this problem..I asked the guys at work for some shim steel (0.1 mm) and made shim for it, held it on with superglue and eventually managed to press it in with the aid of some copper ease. The circlip was popped in and it looks like its all good. The ebay guys I bought it for swore blind it was for my car and this does check out. They refused to take it back, but did reimburse me. What a hassle though..nightmare to fit..Also, getting the balljoint 19mm nut bolt on and off..there is no clearance for anything but a 19mm open ended spanner, so you effectively cannot torque it accurately, but it is a lock nut so it should be OK..the old was so hard to remove I just hacksawed it off..

What a pain in the arse...

That bodge sounds dangerous to me and will fail an MOT just buy a new arm from Volvo as they don't supply the ball joint for a reason ..

[Darlo 1]

Originally Posted by Clan

That bodge sounds dangerous to me and will fail an MOT just buy a new arm from Volvo as they don't supply the ball joint for a reason ..

As Clan said it may/will be deemed dangerous come mot time, complete arms are dead easy to fit .

[ITSv40]

Originally Posted by Darlo 1

As Clan said it may/will be deemed dangerous come mot time, complete arms are dead easy to fit .

That is if the car and driver survive until MoT time.

[phil_r]

I've found that even if fitted properly they can come loose when pressed in. Got it tack welded back in and was fine after that, think the issue was someone had previously done the same so didn't like getting a ball joint pressed in again.

[Miketwovolvos]

My car has done 143000 miles and whilst the control arm rubber is old in the front and back bushings, there was no splitting. The control arm bushing wear is subject to style of driving as well as whether it was fitted correctly (torqued with the car on the ground). The balljoints are intended to be pressed in, but obviously with nowhere near as much force as that of a bearing (eq. of at least 6 tons). The first balljoint I had to replace in 2015 showed internal play only after 120000+ miles which is quite impressive. I pressed in the new one and it needed a heavy duty vice with a three foot extension to do it. It stayed in for four years before it began to show some play inside the joint (not a very good quality one). It took the same three foot extension treatment and a great deal of force to remove it. The shimmed one I have just pressed in took even more sustained pressure to insert. Once in, the circlip is fitted which slots into groove and this provides added security. As to MOTs, In the last 10 years I have prepared 20 cars and the only failure was the CEM module which runs the lights which failed on the way to the test centre. In that time I have replaced springs, struts, various bearings (front and rear-drive), engine mounts and different types of balljoints.