Ok Gene, to answer your questions- here is the "rest of the story" as
Paul Harvey says on the radio.
Recently I went in to have the front end aligned, and the fellow
wouldn't do it as he said my one lower ball joint was too worn on side
to side movement. He did this test with the wheels off the ground. He
did not do the usual vertical test for lower ball joint wear. I do the
vertical test every year and while my left joint was more worn than my
right one, it was within vertical movement specs. Anyway, I thought
maybe he knew something I did not,and as I was at the 25,000 mark for
greasing, felt it was a good time to pull things apart and check it all
out.
I prefer to totally clean out all the old grease, inspect the races, put
in new seals etc. rather than just pump in new grease, because I think
the other way one will end up with a mixture of old and new grease plus
one awful mess of grease. Once it is opened up that far, with a good
pulled, it isn't much more effort to take the bearing off the hub. Once
in the past, on one of my rears, on very close inspection, I found that
the hardening on the bearing was starting to give way and I replaced the
bearing as a result. As mentioned I do a check under the magnifying
glass.
I have since cut off the rubber boot from the bearing and it appears to
me that the bearing works on the principle that it is tight when there
is weight on the vehicle,but loose when there is no weight, and I think
the alignment technician was wrong. Maybe some of our mechanics can
inform me further on this. It certainly was not worn out in terms of
vertical wear.Maybe the mechanic was creating work for himself, maybe he
was misinformed, I don't know.I would like to find out the truth of the
matter.
The welding part: My lower control arms are not cracked at 95,000 miles,
but it has been reported that there are coaches who have had cracks
from anywhere from 120,000 on up. I don't think all of these have
previously had lower ball joints replaced. I would suspect though they
may have had unbalanced vehicles at some time or maybe most of the time,
and/or they have been overloaded in the front.
I have a Royale by Coachman and on one weighing several years ago I
weighed in at 4350lbs. on the front end, without my wife sitting in the
front (she's not very heavy guys). The manuf. plate under the hood lists
the '77 at 4200 lb. for the front. which is I believe higher than what
they listed the earlier model year ones. Likely my weight is less than
some as I currently have no air conditioners on the roof- they weigh
each at about 115lbs. So I am considering my front weight at the maximum
or a bit over, depending on loading. Am I over stressing the components
of the lower control arm area? Who knows, but I don't want to end up
with a cracked/ broken arm out in the desert, 2000 miles from home!!!
So hopefully as preventive work, I welded a 3/4" x 3" piece of metal
around the end of the arm,tieing it in to the double layer of metal
strengthening that the factory had put in. I eliminated any jagged edges
and tried to make the whole area as smoothly contoured as possible, as
my understanding is that when there are sharp areas that is where a
crack sometimes can start.
Have I weakened the area from the heat and losing some of the temper in
the original part? Have I created stresses in puting two possible
dissimilar metals together? Should I have let well enough alone, and not
tried to fix what didn't need to be fixed? I don't know. Maybe the
metallurgists and expert welders can give some ideas.
What I have now is one new Moog lower ball joint, with a welded control
arm and the other non welded and the original Moog lower joint.You
really can't get in there very well to do the welding unless one tears
out the old joint and I certainly am not going to do that until
necessary.I suspect time will be the only final answer to inform me
whether I have done right. I do know it is prudent to check the area
when doing work there, and in the meantime maybe the mechanics can tell
us whether a lower ball joint can develop side to side wear, the
metallurgists can explain about welding heat and losing original temper,
the welders can explain about the stress caused by welding, and the rest
of us can add some myth and opinion.
Now I gotta go and get some work done, but I'll let everyone know the
results--in another 20 years.
Claude
Paul Harvey says on the radio.
Recently I went in to have the front end aligned, and the fellow
wouldn't do it as he said my one lower ball joint was too worn on side
to side movement. He did this test with the wheels off the ground. He
did not do the usual vertical test for lower ball joint wear. I do the
vertical test every year and while my left joint was more worn than my
right one, it was within vertical movement specs. Anyway, I thought
maybe he knew something I did not,and as I was at the 25,000 mark for
greasing, felt it was a good time to pull things apart and check it all
out.
I prefer to totally clean out all the old grease, inspect the races, put
in new seals etc. rather than just pump in new grease, because I think
the other way one will end up with a mixture of old and new grease plus
one awful mess of grease. Once it is opened up that far, with a good
pulled, it isn't much more effort to take the bearing off the hub. Once
in the past, on one of my rears, on very close inspection, I found that
the hardening on the bearing was starting to give way and I replaced the
bearing as a result. As mentioned I do a check under the magnifying
glass.
I have since cut off the rubber boot from the bearing and it appears to
me that the bearing works on the principle that it is tight when there
is weight on the vehicle,but loose when there is no weight, and I think
the alignment technician was wrong. Maybe some of our mechanics can
inform me further on this. It certainly was not worn out in terms of
vertical wear.Maybe the mechanic was creating work for himself, maybe he
was misinformed, I don't know.I would like to find out the truth of the
matter.
The welding part: My lower control arms are not cracked at 95,000 miles,
but it has been reported that there are coaches who have had cracks
from anywhere from 120,000 on up. I don't think all of these have
previously had lower ball joints replaced. I would suspect though they
may have had unbalanced vehicles at some time or maybe most of the time,
and/or they have been overloaded in the front.
I have a Royale by Coachman and on one weighing several years ago I
weighed in at 4350lbs. on the front end, without my wife sitting in the
front (she's not very heavy guys). The manuf. plate under the hood lists
the '77 at 4200 lb. for the front. which is I believe higher than what
they listed the earlier model year ones. Likely my weight is less than
some as I currently have no air conditioners on the roof- they weigh
each at about 115lbs. So I am considering my front weight at the maximum
or a bit over, depending on loading. Am I over stressing the components
of the lower control arm area? Who knows, but I don't want to end up
with a cracked/ broken arm out in the desert, 2000 miles from home!!!
So hopefully as preventive work, I welded a 3/4" x 3" piece of metal
around the end of the arm,tieing it in to the double layer of metal
strengthening that the factory had put in. I eliminated any jagged edges
and tried to make the whole area as smoothly contoured as possible, as
my understanding is that when there are sharp areas that is where a
crack sometimes can start.
Have I weakened the area from the heat and losing some of the temper in
the original part? Have I created stresses in puting two possible
dissimilar metals together? Should I have let well enough alone, and not
tried to fix what didn't need to be fixed? I don't know. Maybe the
metallurgists and expert welders can give some ideas.
What I have now is one new Moog lower ball joint, with a welded control
arm and the other non welded and the original Moog lower joint.You
really can't get in there very well to do the welding unless one tears
out the old joint and I certainly am not going to do that until
necessary.I suspect time will be the only final answer to inform me
whether I have done right. I do know it is prudent to check the area
when doing work there, and in the meantime maybe the mechanics can tell
us whether a lower ball joint can develop side to side wear, the
metallurgists can explain about welding heat and losing original temper,
the welders can explain about the stress caused by welding, and the rest
of us can add some myth and opinion.
Now I gotta go and get some work done, but I'll let everyone know the
results--in another 20 years.
Claude
