Knackard ball joint on front arm and need to correct ride height

[disco-ian]

Hi All,
Ok so the guy I bought my Leggy from said he had lowered the front suspension by 1" to make the car look level. However I am getting very bad inner edge tyre wear on the front. I have had the tracking checked and it is slightly toe out however in spec. So I recon the camber must be out causing the major adverse wear. Now he lowered it by undoing the retaining bolt on the bottom of the shock, ground off a small tab and slid the clamp up 1". So to put it back to standard I need to lower this.

59956

Can anyone let me know what the standard measurment is on the below image so I can rais it back to standard height. Then I will get a full alignment done to check everything and get the fronts to a little toe in :-)

59955

Next .....

My Front Bottom Lateral Arm on the offside has at least 1 - 2mm play in it so I need to replace. I assume you can not just replace the ball joint so I need tyo buy a new one. Camskill genuin Mitsi part £214 !!!! I think this is what the part is called anyway. I have arrowed the ball joint in question in the below picture.

What are my options??

59954

[disco-ian]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mitsubishi-Galant-2-5i-TT-24v-VR4-Suspension-Arm-Lower-Front-RH-99-00-FCA6087-/290697782009?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item43aef022f9

Will this be any good? It say 99 - 00 are the pre face lift ones different to the face lift ones?

[disco-ian]

Are the ones for other galants in the same year the same?

http://www.carpartsgiant.co.uk/Mitsubishi_Galant_2.0L_Wishbones.aspx?gclid=CJqv3u-YmrUCFWbKtAodvBEATQ

[Humpty's Revenge]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mitsubishi-Galant-2-5i-TT-24v-VR4-Suspension-Arm-Lower-Front-RH-99-00-FCA6087-/290697782009?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item43aef022f9

Will this be any good? It say 99 - 00 are the pre face lift ones different to the face lift ones?


Are the ones for other galants in the same year the same?

http://www.carpartsgiant.co.uk/Mitsubishi_Galant_2.0L_Wishbones.aspx?gclid=CJqv3u-YmrUCFWbKtAodvBEATQ

Ian unless they are genuine Mitsubishi ones don't even consider them!!

Trust me it's not worth the bother

[disco-ian]

Yer I read the horror story on here pinned at the top of the suspension thread.

At that price they are not genuine lol

I've messaged a guy on eBay who has secondhand ones for the nearside. But I need an offside

[horndog]

Ive just (last monday) replaced mine as I picked up a pair of genuine ones for a reasonable price and wanted peace of mind, I got em off Brighton Mitsubishi for £250 the pair about 8 months ago - might be worth a call?


The garage said the old ones werent too bad - I'll give em a ring Monday to see if they still have em and you can have em for postage if you want?
I dont know how old they are or how many miles they have done

[TAR]

would a second hand part be any better than the one you already have?

And its always preferable to change both at the same time.

:happy:

[disco-ian]

The only reason it needs replacing is because the actual ball joint has 1 - 2 mm of play in it. I can get hold of the brake disc and move it up and down this much before the lower arm starts to move.

Horndog. I will try calling them Monday, but yes if you could see if they have your old ones available that would also be good. The bll joints must be replacable on these if you can find the part? :-)

[Davezj]

Hi All,
Ok so the guy I bought my Leggy from said he had lowered the front suspension by 1" to make the car look level. However I am getting very bad inner edge tyre wear on the front. I have had the tracking checked and it is slightly toe out however in spec. So I recon the camber must be out causing the major adverse wear. Now he lowered it by undoing the retaining bolt on the bottom of the shock, ground off a small tab and slid the clamp up 1". So to put it back to standard I need to lower this.

59956

Can anyone let me know what the standard measurment is on the below image so I can rais it back to standard height. Then I will get a full alignment done to check everything and get the fronts to a little toe in :-)

59955

Next .....

My Front Bottom Lateral Arm on the offside has at least 1 - 2mm play in it so I need to replace. I assume you can not just replace the ball joint so I need tyo buy a new one. Camskill genuin Mitsi part £214 !!!! I think this is what the part is called anyway. I have arrowed the ball joint in question in the below picture.

What are my options??

59954

WARNING WARNING WARNING, I CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH.

Ian for safety sake DO NOT DRIVE THA CAR WITH THE SUSPENSION STRUT LIKE THAT, IT IS DOWN RIGHT DANGEROUS, IF YOU HIT A BIG BUMPER THE SHOCK CAN PUSH DOWN AND SMASH THE DRIVE SHAFT" and yes I am shouting, it is that bad.
The suspension strut should have collar round the shock about 2" from the bottom of the shock. This is supposed to sit on the top of the fork collar that the shock goes through, to ensure the shock does not punch though the bottom of the fork and smash into the drive shaft.
YOU MUST NEVER LOWER A CAR LIKE THIS, IT IS DANGEROUS!
Jack the car up and undo the bolt holding the bottom of the shock pull the shock up out of the fork and the slide it back in so the collar on the shock sits on top of the fork.

If you are really unlucky the previous owner will have ground off the collar on the shock to get the shock to slide down inside the fork.
If this is he case then new shock required a soon as possible.

[Davezj]

The only reason it needs replacing is because the actual ball joint has 1 - 2 mm of play in it. I can get hold of the brake disc and move it up and down this much before the lower arm starts to move.

Horndog. I will try calling them Monday, but yes if you could see if they have your old ones available that would also be good. The bll joints must be replacable on these if you can find the part? :-)

On a different note regarding the lower ball joint, check the recall status of the car, if the lower ball joint recall has not been done you can get them replaced for free at you local mitsi dealer with genuine mitsi parts about £165 a side.

Search on recall status or go to the colt car company uk (mitsi uk) and do a recall status enquiry.
They will get back to you if the recalls have been done.
Or post up the G sticker number in the rear window, these re the jap recall status stickers so you car tell if they have been done in Japan before it was imported. He G sticker are on the inside of the rear window and have a number in the middle of them, but they are not very visible though the black out window tint.

Hope this helps

[disco-ian]

lol. Done 12000 miles on the car since I bought it. Yep he ground the tap off!!

Maybe I can weld something back onto it??

Does anyone know the standard dimensions that I was after.

I have takent he car off the road for now as in reading more and more into this lower ball joint issue I don'y want the thing to fail whilst driving.

[Davezj]

sorry i don't have my spare set of suspension, adaxo adam he has mine at the moment to do some testing on his car.
but i am sure he could get you a measurement to the collar on the front ones.

[disco-ian]

Thanks for all the info Dave. I will see what I can find RE recall tomorrow afternoon. I have a useable secondhand one on its way for £30 delivered for now. I will message Adaxo to see if he can help with measurements

[Nick Mann]

I have had inner tyre wear on a couple of VR4's and both times it was a small amount of play in the rack end (tie rod) ball joint. I changed a lot of things before I worked out what the issue was the first time!

[adaxo]

Got a pair of genuine straight arms details here (http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?63443-Spring-garage-clearance-(FL-bumper-grill-fogs-straight-arms-and-bits))

and there is measurement of Dave front original studs

59957

[disco-ian]

Briliant guys, Cheers. So what your putting the tape measure up to there is where the top of my collar needs to be yes?

Hi Nick, yes I had seen your posts before regarding the tie rods. I have checked them as bext I can and they seem fine. However If correcting the ride height and replacing the lateral arm does not solve the issue I will replace all tie rods and rod ends as they are not that expensive.

Thanks for all your help on this one guys. Got the Discovery ready for getting me to work for the next week days. Made a call to BP to make sure they order extra LPG this week to fuel me :-)

[adaxo]

Briliant guys, Cheers. So what your putting the tape measure up to there is where the top of my collar needs to be yes?


Yes, tape touching this thingy what rest on the other thingy which some grind off of your shocks :D

[disco-ian]

Yes, tape touching this thingy what rest on the other thingy which some grind off of your shocks :D

Ah yes I can work with that. I'll get my tape and move wy thing on the thingy to the thingy.

Does anyone know if I can do this on the car or do I need to take the shock off. Also do you think it would be OK to put a small dollop of weld on the shock to assist in holding it there if things have been ground off. Or do you think this might damage the shock

[disco-ian]

OK I called Mitsi UK and they have applied to the factory to see if there are any recalls present or not. Can take up to 3 weeks!! OK well at leasts its being done. :-)

Have a secondhand unit on its way to me. To get me back on the road and messaging Adaxo about some he has.

All underway. Tomorrow I'll attack the suspension.

[elnevio]

Ian, PM me your chassis number! :thumbsup:

[elnevio]

Your car had three common recalls - the heater blower, front lower arms, and the fuel tank, and all have been done while it was in Japan. :thumbsup:

Details from the Mitsi recalls site: http://recall.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/Recall/resultrecallstatus.do

[disco-ian]

Cheers mate

[elnevio]

Yes, sadly it means that you can't get the free recall done, but it does save waiting until you hear back from the dealer. The other thing it could have shown is that the work hadn't been done in Japan, but then you'd need to see from the dealer if it had been carried out in the UK, which AFAIK does not update the Japanese online database I checked.

[horndog]

Sorry, Garage have scrapped the old parts

[Davezj]

Does anyone know if I can do this on the car or do I need to take the shock off. Also do you think it would be OK to put a small dollop of weld on the shock to assist in holding it there if things have been ground off. Or do you think this might damage the shock

1. Get the car off he ground both front wheels, safely.
2. undo bolt that holds bottom of fork to straight arm with ball joint on. this will release tention in the spring, it will pull upwards. you use a spring compressor on the spring to help with this.
3. undo bolt that holds fork to shock slide fork down, do bolt up.
put it back together.
it is not difficult to do.

as for putting blob of weld on it, i would think it would be ok, depends how good you welding is, i would recomend arc welding it, mig would be better on the lowest power you can get a some weld to sick properly just don't blow a hole in the shock, 0.5 second bursts and allow it cool for a few secends inbetween. The bottom of the shock is put under quite a bit of force in normal operation so i would have thought it would be fairly think matal. but that is just what i think. i have never cut a shock open to look at it.

[disco-ian]

Cheers Horndog. I have new ones on there way from Adaxo now :-)

Thank Dave. I have a little no Gas MIG here that is reasonable and I not too bad at welding so I'll give it a go. Yer I was only thinking of short burst to keep the temp down. Only really wanted to get 2 or 3 small tacks on it to help keep it in place if the previouse guy has ground off the original clip..

Worst case if I do bugger the shock up I'll get some more. :-)