ok cheers guys - i'm guessing they'll be loctited on then....... i'll get them off tomorrow if it's dry.
Get yourself a big heap of rag, gloves and have a bin bag to hand. It gets very messy! The two bolts that were knackered on mine I got out by hammering an oversized hex key into them. The other option is small stilsons.
I meant to ask, will it be obvious if they are fubar'd when i take them off? obviously i can't really tell how many i need - i "think" the right hand side/offside one is noisy (based on the fact i can't hear it louder if i stick my head out of the drivers side - lhd - window) but don't know if it's one or both ends, i'm wondering if i should buy 2 new and then 2 out of the 4 originals will be good when cleaned and re greased - any thoughts?
Remove them and clean them up ricky if they will shows signs of scoring.pitting or blueing if they are damaged Its a proper mucky job cleaning them out though dude
My thoughts is have a look before you order, then you'll know what you need. That said 1 clicker = 1 joint. Pay great attention when you take it apart if you think you'll be putting it back together they're like chinese puzzles.
I have been known to mix and match bits from more than one joint if you have enough balls and carriers that aren't worn as described ^ up there some where. But if you've got the cash its cheaper than the time costs in my mind, on the flip-side if your broke and have got time - fiddle away
The one with the ragged split boot? I would guess the outer will get hotter with the brakes so maybe the grease would dry out quicker. On the other hand that might have already happened, been sorted and now it's the inner's turn. My experience would say best keep an open mind with such an old vehicle.
I just realised we are going away next friday so i'll need to go to gsf today to fetch at least 2 to be sure i get it done in time, weather supposed to be bad tomorrow and i'm busy on saturday so i'm going to sort the side i think is clicking worst 1st then sort the other side after, zed the boots aren't spliting the way they are letting grease out - they are just all cracked - i guess just through age, none of my joints have spreaders on and it doesn't look like gsf sell them either so that might be an issue, but it hasn't had any on for the last 2 years or more.....
They tend to work loose without the spreaders. Big-rich sells them, I'd get some if you have the time.
I think I have sorted mine for now I have taken one of the boots of and quickly regreased it as there wasn't anything in there and a quick spin around the block and it seems all quiet!
Well, that was a crap job and then some... decided to buy 2 joints complete and 2 boot kits as i figured it would be an outer that had gone, went to gsf where they stocked both german and pattern parts, they both looked ok and the guy said they never had complaints about the pattern so faced with half the price i went with them, they had the spreaders in as well and the german ones didn't..... however they didn't sell the spreaders seperate so i still need 6 more...... 11 of the 24 bolts had to be attacked with an oversize torx and a hammer to remove them but it wasn't a terrible job. I did the suspect side 1st and upon undoing the outer one a nice trickle of rusty brown water came out and no grease was left in there so i figured we had found the problem! the inner was ok, the other side was the same but a bit less water and still had some grease in. i stripped and cleaned both and fitted the 2 old good ones to the outer on both sides and the 2 new on the inners fitted new boots and re greased all, as i only had 6 spreaders i fitted them inside to the new joints and i'll get 6 more as soon as i can, i'm going to be paranoid about them being tight enough for a while and have to recheck as a 40 torx isn't really big enough but a 45 is too big, i tightened them until they seemed tight or the torx slipped on a few - i hate torx - and no i haven't got a torque wrench so don't shoot me!
Looks like replacement was rather overdue! Nice job. I did the same on my previous bus....not pleasant!
the outer 2 were really bad one moreso, the inner 2 were still fine, i dunno why but i thought i'd put the 2 "good" old ones to the outer when i rebuilt, i threw the worst of the 2 knackered ones in the bin but i stripped and washed the not as bad one in thinners to see what condition it was in - it's all pitted and blue so that one would have failed later his year for sure...... i've no idea how bad the really bad one was - it wasn't even worth cleaning to find out!
