Well the 25000 mile mark has rolled around again, so have pulled the
front wheels to do a grease job on them.Because what has been reported
by some of finding cracks at the lower ball joint, it was a good time to
do an inspection. From Bob Blenkinsops experience he found a number of
coaches had cracks when they had over 120,000 miles. One thing I wonder
however is -those which are cracked-have they been over loaded on the
front and or have they been out of balance in the ride height settings?
I try to be very careful to keep the weights on the wheels evenly
balanced.
Anyway, I was lucky and no cracks on the left side where I was going to
replace the ball joint, however while having the front opened up I
decided to strengthen the area around the lower ball joint. I have
welded in very carefully a piece of steele 1/8" x 3/4" x about 3"
bending it around the end of the control arm and welding it top and
bottom. There is just enough room between the control arm and the
knuckle to do this . This should provide a much stronger platform for
the lower ball joint to be fastened into and hopefully will preclude any
chance of it cracking at some future time. This area takes a lot of
weight and a beating
I mention all of this as there may be others who will be needing to
grease their front wheel bearings, and it is a good time to do an
inspection.
Maybe I am fussy, but I also like to check my bearings under a strong
magnifying glass to see if the metal is breaking down and loosing any of
the hardened surface.So far so good.
Claude
front wheels to do a grease job on them.Because what has been reported
by some of finding cracks at the lower ball joint, it was a good time to
do an inspection. From Bob Blenkinsops experience he found a number of
coaches had cracks when they had over 120,000 miles. One thing I wonder
however is -those which are cracked-have they been over loaded on the
front and or have they been out of balance in the ride height settings?
I try to be very careful to keep the weights on the wheels evenly
balanced.
Anyway, I was lucky and no cracks on the left side where I was going to
replace the ball joint, however while having the front opened up I
decided to strengthen the area around the lower ball joint. I have
welded in very carefully a piece of steele 1/8" x 3/4" x about 3"
bending it around the end of the control arm and welding it top and
bottom. There is just enough room between the control arm and the
knuckle to do this . This should provide a much stronger platform for
the lower ball joint to be fastened into and hopefully will preclude any
chance of it cracking at some future time. This area takes a lot of
weight and a beating
I mention all of this as there may be others who will be needing to
grease their front wheel bearings, and it is a good time to do an
inspection.
Maybe I am fussy, but I also like to check my bearings under a strong
magnifying glass to see if the metal is breaking down and loosing any of
the hardened surface.So far so good.
Claude
