Upper wishbone ball joint compression

[Mucus72]

Hi all,I'm still on the last bit of the front suspension and have had an hour to play after work tonight. I needed to clamp on bits of wood over the brake discs to safely exert 55Nm of force on the lower upright mounting. Thought the hard bit was over after that. But now I'm nervously tightening the brass throw away nut to compress and pop/snap the upper ball joint into place. The rubber boot has compressed a lot and I feel like I may have given myself a hernia with tightening but nothing has popped in yet. Nothing I noticed. Do I carry on ramping up the pressure or stop take it off and see if the ball joint has locked in?

[ChrisC]

Marcus is the plan nut up to torque?

 

[Mucus72]

I don't know Chris. The ultimate Nyloc but that replaces the temp nut for locking purposes is supposed to be at 55Nm. I can't test torque because I don't have a suitable socket that fits the temp nut. I have been using a socket wrench instead. Do I assume that the ball joint would pop into the upright at the same torque level? I'm not sure that I read it that way, but just don't know. I was hoping there would be a discernible popping or movement. But only felt that in my rib cage ;)

[ChrisC]

I don't remember this being a drama last year when I did my wide track upgrade.  Nip the plain nut to torque, then remove and fit the nyloc, again to torque, yes the ball joint rubber compressed but it soon locked into place, but this was the old upright design, not the 2014 versions.  Are you sure the ball joint is not turning instead of locating?

[ChrisC]

The plain nut is not brass, just yellow zinc coated.

[Jonathan Kay]

I can't test torque because I don't have a suitable socket that fits the temp nut. I have been using a socket wrench instead.

Is that about drive sizes? Treat yourself to all the adaptors?

Jonathan

[Mucus72]

Will go and buy a better set of sockets and do as you say Chris. I'm prob just having unfounded anxiety. All the parts are so new and shiny it's scary ;)

[ChrisC]

I think I had to use a wobbly extension to get the space for my torque wrench on that nut.  You might need to look at that as well while your at it Marcus ;-)

[SM25T]

Is the problem that the taper pin is turning ? Does it have a hex socket in the end so you can hold it with a long Allen key wile using a ring spanner on the nut ? Put a foot on top of the top wishbone to press the taper down.

[SM25T]

There is no pop/snap. It is a taper pin in a taper hole. Strangely, a smear of grease on the pin helps it to seat.

[ScottR400D]

If you've got anywhere near the correct torque the taper will be seated. There won't be a snap, as has been said its a taper.

Very unlikely that the joint is turning on the taper; once a small load is on the joint it will lock in very well, that's what tapers do. Grease will help, not just now but when you want to split it.

[Jim 123]

The nut is not brass and will torque up OK.  Access is a problem, which makes for physical stress when applying torque a challenge.  Make sure you protect the body sides against a spanner slip off. The depth of recess in your socket will need to be sufficient to take the increasing length of ball joint thread as you tighten the nut.

The nut just gets everything correctly home and there will be no indication other than the torque reading, but you can over torque a little as you are only creating a seating for the nyloc at the next stage.

Have you wired in, and mounted, the Headlamps and Indicators at this stage?  This can be a real hassle afterwards to get the wiring through the bracket that mounts on the top wishbone.

[Mucus72]

thanks all - will sort this evening- I feel confident that I have applied enough torque so all should be good, glad its a taper, makes sense now. Regarding the headlight wiring, I pulled through a length of wire in anticipation of the pain later on. Not mounted headlights/indicators yet, felt that I could leave t his until after the engine install.

[Mucus72]

Didn't finish work until too late last night, the perils of working for a US based company.

I popped into the garage and sorted it all out at lunch time. All of this fretting for what was actually very easy. Thank you so much for the taper comment, the moment I undid the temp nut I saw the wishbone had locked in. And the moment I had the right socket from Halfords, the rest was super easy.

Took 18 minutes start to finish on the left hand side after about an hour and a half of flapping around like an idiot on the right hand side...

Tools and confidence, I am repeating that mantra from now on in my head.

Check out www.caterham420rbuild.com for Day 2 Addendum and a few pictures.

And thanks all!

Marcus

[Jonathan Kay]

Took 18 minutes start to finish on the left hand side after about an hour and a half of flapping around like an idiot on the right hand side...

Oh yes. If only we could assemble another whole 7 straight afterwards...

Tools and confidence...

:-)

... and BlatChat!

I built mine in the pre-web era. Lots of 'phone calls to the man at the factory. The reply never once suggested that he'd heard the same question many times before, and he often asked "What do you think you should do?". Great teaching style.

Jonathan