Transit knocking front suspension

Usually to check the bbj you have to lift the wheel up with a bar whilst the van is jacked up. The suspension spring pushes the ball joint together disguising any play. Sounds like the bbj. Lou Bricant

the ball joint is pulled tight when you jack the front up. leave the wheel on the ground and lever the bottom arm up.

BBJ on these is very common and when they fail you are stuck solid, so don't ignore it.

Mrcheerful

To check the bottom ball joints on the old style transits, you have to jack them up under the wishbone (it's one of the few vehicles that has to be checked this way), and then check for play (it'll be pretty obvious). Doing this with a normal trolley jack is usually a bit procarious, but just make sure you don't put any fingers under the wheel incase it does slip of the jack.

If you don't jack them up under the wishbone, then the spring extends and acts against the damper so any play in the bottom ball joint is masked due to it being under quite a high tensile load.

Also check the anti-roll bar links/bushes, but it does sound like a ball joint. It's best to check it ASAP, as these ball joints are under a tensile load (typically balljoints are under a compressive load) and will pop out with enough play, resulting in the wishbone hitting the ground, and the complete wheel/strut assembly going sideways.

Many thanks for the replies chaps. All basically saying the same thing so it's clear I need to get and check the bbj again, or by the sounds of it replace it regardless as I'm fairly sure it's the original, or at least very old.

Cheers, BobC

yep, that is the way to think, replace it anyway, as they can kill you or someone else, the collapse is instant and spectacular, you won't forget it, I assure you. So change it now, they are about 20 quid and a little hard work.

Mrcheerful

Thanks. I'll take that advice. Is it something I should be able to do myself? Looking through Haynes I need it on stands and then a jack under the wishbone to hold the spring in compression. I would imagine the only difficult bit is if the taper is solid, assuming all the bolts come undone of course!

BobC

As I recall the balljoint is bolted into the wishbone, the taper part is the hard bit, ideally have a proper ball joint splitter tool available, other methods can work but the proper tool makes it easier. the front wheel alignment will need checking afterwards.

The taper is the awkward part. You need to jack the front end up, and put it on axle stand. Remove the front wheel, then place the jack under the bottom call joint and just jack it up enough to take the strain of the damper. Then remove the single mounting bolt for the brake hose, followed by the 4 bolts holding the damper onto the hub carrier, and tie it up using a piece of rope (if you don't tie it up, it gets in your way). You may want to remove the brake caliper before unbolting the damper to help prevent the brake hose getting damaged. The jack can then be removed.

Next you need to remove the main ball joint bolt, which is a 27mm IIRC. A

3/4" drive socket with extension is ideal for removing this, as it can be a bit too tight for 1/2" drive sockets, then pop the taper out of the hub carrier. A big jaw type ball joint splitter is best, but they can be done with a hammer in prong type, provided they're not too tight. Failing that, I've seen me having to jack the wishbone back-up, bolting the damper back on with a couple bolts, letting the jack down (just enough to put the weight back on the ball joint, but keep the jack in place) then putting the ball joint splitter back on.

Then it's a case of removing the four bolts holding the ball joint into the wishbone. These are known to seize into the ball joint, and if they do, you'll have to grind them flush, then drill enough of the bolt away so the remaining stubs can clear the wishbone.

After that, reassembly is quite straight forward.