Ball joint dust cover - SORTED.

[Ranchero]

How easy - or otherwise - is it to replace and can it be bought as a stand alone item?

I've heard they can be mended with RVT silicone. Is this a dumb idea?

[chh137]

Now an M.O.T. fail if split/damaged. Universal kits available from motor factors but not sure if any good or not.

[zaust]

Temp fix is always temporary. Easy to change and yes can be bought alone.

[Ranchero]

Now an M.O.T. fail if split/damaged. Universal kits available from motor factors but not sure if any good or not.

So it seems .

Temp fix is always temporary. Easy to change and yes can be bought alone.

Thanks Marc. i'll pay the dealers a visit in the morning.

[Ranchero]

Can someone help me out with a part number for the cover?

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong area .

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=31&fg=05

[Brianmoooore]

News to me if they're available from BMW! They don't even supply the ball joints on their own.
Replacement covers are available from the sort of place that does bits for kit cars, however.
I make a point of never binning an old ball joint without removing the cover for future use, if it's undamaged. They are usually held in place by around three turns of flat spring steel wire, that's easy enough to remove and replace, as long as you're careful not to bend it past its elastic limits.

[Ranchero]

So, what's the solution? Buy a universal one from the motor factors?

[Ranchero]

Bump .

[B7]

News to me if they're available from BMW! They don't even supply the ball joints on their own.
Replacement covers are available from the sort of place that does bits for kit cars, however.
I make a point of never binning an old ball joint without removing the cover for future use, if it's undamaged. They are usually held in place by around three turns of flat spring steel wire, that's easy enough to remove and replace, as long as you're careful not to bend it past its elastic limits.

Same as me. I always have a couple spare in the drawer. When I did Bigwinns front struts he had a split boot on the oter lower nearside. open the drawer and hey presto done.

Sam, I've never had much luck in buying these new mate as there are just too many different styles and sizes. Not available from the dealers. there are loads on eBay though but just be careful of the sizw / shape etc.

[bigwinn]

[Same as me. I always have a couple spare in the drawer. When I did Bigwinns front struts he had a split boot on the oter lower nearside. open the drawer and hey presto done.

And its still there!

[Ranchero]

I'm hoping one of you guys that keep spare covers (Trev? Brian? Anyone? ) could do me a favour and supply the dimensions. Height, top hole, bottom hole.

Can't find anything online.

The bad news is that my local motor factors have been cleaned out, due to the demand created by the new MOT regulation. So ebay it is.

[chh137]

Try www.mecatech.com tel 0800 068 0658. They do a kit for them . seen some today , not used them myself but have used their drive shaft gaiters in the past with 100 % success.

[Ranchero]

Thanks but they seem to do them in boxes of a dozen , I only need one.

Anyone got them vital stats for me?

[chh137]

Buy a dozen sort yours out and sell em on to others.
Will buy a box myself next time rep calls in.

[Baurluvva]

Guy on ebay sells boots only - dont have details to hand though

[Ranchero]

I found this seller on ebay but it's down to the buyer to know what size cover is needed.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SLIDE-A-BOOT- ... 27c2837d85

That's why I need the relative dimensions.

[clarko74]

I bought these for mine a while ago and they were a perfect fit:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI. ... 0267047553

HTH

[Ranchero]

Thanks, very helpful. That particular seller seems to have sold out but he lists the approximate dimensions which are what I need.

[chh137]

Buy a dozen sort yours out and sell em on to others.
Will buy a box myself next time rep calls in.

Will order a box tomorrow.
I think covers are about £2 each from mecatec plus postage.
So if you want some let me know.

[Ranchero]

Definitely interested. What's the turn around time from you ordering them to actually receiving them?

[chh137]

Depends on post office would think middle of next week before i get them.
Could borrow a couple from my mate and post them off to you tomorrow.
Let me know your address via p/m or email.
Will do them at cost and you can be our guinea pig to see if they are ok.
Their other products are ok ,we have been using them for a number of years with good results.

[chh137]

Parts in post. report back, please.
Mecatech give a lifetime gaurantee oin their dust covers and drive shaft gaiters.
I have no association with them, so will be interested to see if these covers are ok for future mot fails.

[chh137]

You should have em by now.

[Ranchero]

Yeah, received them yesterday. Thanks.

They look right, just haven't fitted them yet. I fitted a new wing today and completely forgot about the dust cover .

I'll be sure to keep you posted though.

[chh137]

And?

[Ranchero]

Can't believe I'm still struggling over this.

This is how things stand at the moment.



Managed to split the ball joint. I hoped the control arm would drop away enough so that I could fit the cover. Am I right in thinking I need to also split the middle ball joint or can the strut be lifted off somehow?

[Brianmoooore]

You probably have the other side still on the ground and the ARB links connected, which means you are fighting the roll bar.

[TouringMatt]

Your gonna have to push the control arm down, might help if you unbolt the anti roll bar mount, never found it essential tho

[Ranchero]

You probably have the other side still on the ground and the ARB links connected, which means you are fighting the roll bar.

That's true. I'll get the other side up tomorrow.

[bss325i]

Just unbolt the anti roll bar drop link from the wishbone.

[Ranchero]

This is it, the classic 'small job' that turns into a nightmare.

Managed to free the control arm and rip off the old boot. Cleaned up the ball joint of old grease and pop on the new cover. It's a good fit but I decide to cut the lip off so that it looks identical to the old one.
This is where the problems start.

Having rescued the wire clips from the old boot, I pack the new one with grease, slide it on and attempt to fit the wire over the lip that holds it in place. How the hell do you do that? With grease splooging all over the place and a strut dangling in the way.

I gave up and decided to just leave the cover as it was and hope that the weight would compress it into its right place.
Screw the drop link back in place, start to screw the 19mm ball joint back only to find it spinning.
I've only gone and threaded the ball joint .

What do I do now? A new ball joint is around £6 but I'll need to remove the wishbone to get it pressed in.
Couldn't find a single 19mm thread chaser anywhere and I'm not paying £40 for a full set.

PITA .

[Brianmoooore]

This is it, the classic 'small job' that turns into a nightmare.

Managed to free the control arm and rip off the old boot. Cleaned up the ball joint of old grease and pop on the new cover. It's a good fit but I decide to cut the lip off so that it looks identical to the old one.
This is where the problems start.

Having rescued the wire clips from the old boot, I pack the new one with grease, slide it on and attempt to fit the wire over the lip that holds it in place. How the hell do you do that? With grease splooging all over the place and a strut dangling in the way.

Sounds like you've packed way too much grease in. Less is more!
Refitting the outer clip can be a bit of an acquired art, but it's not that difficult. Avoiding permanently bending the spring steel is the hardest part.
As for the strut, attach a piece of string and tie it out of the way to something.

I gave up and decided to just leave the cover as it was and hope that the weight would compress it into its right place.
Screw the drop link back in place, start to screw the 19mm ball joint back only to find it spinning.
I've only gone and threaded the ball joint .

What do I do now? A new ball joint is around £6 but I'll need to remove the wishbone to get it pressed in.
Couldn't find a single 19mm thread chaser anywhere and I'm not paying £40 for a full set.

PITA .

You need a jack under the ball joint to force the taper hard into place to stop it spinning, but if you've damaged the thread, you have problems. This kind of thing is where an experienced mechanic would have checked the thread before assembly.
The ball joint threads are not always the same, but are often metric fine, so an average thread chaser set probably wouldn't have the correct one anyway.
Wishbone removal isn't difficult from where you are now. Just the inner ball joint, and the two 17mm bolts holding the lollipop.

[Ranchero]

Finally!



Started over again.
Less grease and a jack under the arm and everything went much smoother. The ball joint wasn't as badly threaded as I originally thought so I didn't have to remove the arm, thank God.

I used a spare cover and didn't trim it this time. Much better fit. I also didn't reuse the wire for fixing in place but used a cable tie that had come supplied with the boot.

Thanks to Charlie for the covers and all others for answering my questions.

[chh137]

Looks like the dust covers are a good fit ,glad you finally got the job done.
Only pleased to help with supplying them.
Mecatech also supply C/V and steering rack gaiters etc.always found them superior to usual after market crap.