Hi Chaps,
Got round to fitting my Buddyclub coilovers on the front today and noticed something very strange.
I fitted the right one and when I undid the top arm bolts the hub was fairly stiff on the lower arm ball joint.
When I did the one on the left it was horrendous and the hub was swinging about all over the place which made getting the suspension struts out a nightmare.
Is the lower arm ball joint something that wears out ?
How do you replace it ? Replace the whole lower arm or is it just a bush that needs replacing ?
If its a bush is it the piece shown on here on page 22 as 2 in a circle ?
http://www.rx7city.com/Manuals/93%20Manual/16_SUSPENSION.pdf (http://www.rx7city.com/Manuals/93%20Manual/16_SUSPENSION.pdf)
Cheers for the help.
Ah, bud, I cant see which piece you mean in the diagram.
Can you find it, then use ALT + PrtSC, then paste that into paint, save as a Jpeg, and post it in here?
ANyway, yes, all ball joints can wear out.
Cheers for the reply mate,
Here is a copy of the piece in question.
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a83/gmogle/bush.jpg)
Im interested in the out come of this also! Mine need replacing
You cant buy this joint as a spare, you have to buy the whole arm (here)
http://www.rotaryart.uk.com/acatalog/New_3rd_gen_ext_body_styling.html
Core blimey gov!
Well I think that Gary might well be selling some new wishbones...cos at the price of new lower arms we can produce billet ones, and with removable bushes.....so cheaper to replace second time round! Plus they will be inboard/outboard rose joints!!
Ideal if you want to change the track width of the car, as adding spacers to wheels moves the centre of the contact patch to the inner edge of the wheel....not so with custom wishbones. :D
I like that idea, any idea on a price for the front set of 4.
Will let Gary know and then best if you contact him. Will get a price sorted in the next week.....How urgent are yours?
Im in no urgency at the moment, the car is off the road for winter and im porting/rebuilding the engine.
I\'d also be interested in a price on this:WaveBye
Seems a bit strange you can buy the other bushes, not the one in question.
just checked on the UK Mazda EPC and its not a seperate part - doesnt mean that someone else wont make it though........I\'ve just got some bits for the front lower arm on my Civic that Honda didnt sell (they wanted you to buy the whole arm), but i was able to buy them seperately from a motor factors. I guess the fact the RX7 is a bit rarer wont help unless maybe it shares the same part with another Mazda which is likely i would have thought
Hey Rob
Im on the case!
Will be made in the next month!
I know, but not everone will want to spend a few hundred if it is indeed possible just to change the ball joint for a few quid. To be honest i\'ve not looked at that area of the car for a while so i guess it may not even be possible to pop the old ones out from the original arm
Its not possible...believe me Ive tried. Well I guess everything is possible, but I didn\'t want to completely screw up the lower arms!
The cost of the new ones, admittedly wont be cheap....they will however be
Cheaper
Lighter
More adjustable
And in the event of further problems cheaper to replace the new ball joint.
I hope these will be the same weight if not lighter. Also will their strength be tested? Im guessing by the look of the stock ones, mazda spent alot of money in this department.
Hiya Andy,
They will be made from billet aluminium so they will be lighter. I\'m already in the process of getting the upper arms redone as the inner hole doesn\'t allow for a full length spring to be used as it would knock against the sides. So to do the lower isn\'t a problem.
The units are designed in Solid works...this allows you to stress test the component before making it. Once that has been done, I will personally be testing them in one of the most gruelling of methods....on track! If it can survive my driving it will happily cope with the stresses of road activities ;)
Quote from: AtomicRexIts not possible...believe me Ive tried. Well I guess everything is possible, but I didn\'t want to completely screw up the lower arms!
The cost of the new ones, admittedly wont be cheap....they will however be
Cheaper
Lighter
More adjustable
And in the event of further problems cheaper to replace the new ball joint.
Ah well, never mind, it wasnt that i wasnt in favour of what you were doing before that post i made, but i\'m really in favour of you making them now :D
They were a sod to do on my CRX, seem to remember a set of hydralic pullers came in very handy, i\'m going to do the ones on my Civic today (i like my vtec Honda\'s!) and i anticipate lots of swearing and hitting things :Grrr
Right a bit of an update on these beauties!
The lower arm is rather complex....so I\'m going to wait to redevelop it for next year.
However!
On Wednesday we are going to remove the lower bearings and make up a new one for it.....Will take some photos and let you know the progress.
If it works we can do a kit that you can either do yourself or take to an engineering firm. Should still be considerably cheaper than new ones!!!
When we rebuild the car for next year, then it will have fully adjustable suspension!
Nice update there mate !!
Hi all,
I\'ve just got a RX7 import series 3. It failed the MOT because the ball joint rubbers were split. I notice you have some other options, can you tell me a bit more about them (costs etc)?
Jay
All the work Im doing is for the series 6.
The new upper wishbones will be ready, hopefully, at the end of next week. ive bought the new bearings for the lower arms, and we have stipped the ball joint down, just got to do some drawings and then machine it up. Once we have done the first one we can sort out a way of replicating this.
Cheers
Jon
Quote from: Jay75Hi all,
I\'ve just got a RX7 import series 3. It failed the MOT because the ball joint rubbers were split. I notice you have some other options, can you tell me a bit more about them (costs etc)?
Jay
Which model and year?
Hi,
It\'s a 1992 model. What are the replacements like? Do they use the basic suspension components or are they totally new? It really is an issue of cost as I might be able to get some arms from a scrappy. I\'m not too bothered about time as I\'m not in any rush as I\'m going to do the work on the car myself. What other products do you guys do? >atomic rex< >rotary art<. I see you race a RX7 aswell. Is that why you have different suspension? Do you work on your own car? Maybe you could lend a hand, Oxford isnt far from castle combe circuit.
Jay
Personally I don\'t sell any products myself....any parts I develop will be sold through Gary (Rotary Art). Of these products, some are developed by myself and the others are done by the college, all of which are aimed solely for the circuit car.
The others are all sourced by Gary (and hopefully I\'m not talking out of turn here) and these are aimed for all desires you want to throw at your Rex.
You are more than welcome to come and have a look at the Rx.
The reason we have changed the suspension, is that the aperture in the upper wishbone isn\'t wide enough to fit both the shock and spring. This means the shock isn\'t able to work to its full potential.....So we\'ve opened up the upper wishbone, plus rose jointing inboard will give total control of the setup. The lower wishbone isn\'t as easy, so all we have done is change the lower bearing and rather than have an uncompromised ride by rose jointing the inboard lower we are putting the new motorsport Super pro poly bushes on.
All outboard is going to be rose jointed!!!
I WANT TO WIN!!! 5 Ferrari\'s to compete against now! There is going to be a lot of red out there! but hopefully the lone orange machine will be showing them how its done! ;)
Ok. Assuming these are still ok for use on the road and a few track days. How much for the complete kit and individual bits?
Jay