I was doing some work under my car today and noticed the passenger side front ball joint had a slight tear in it and a lot of grease was oozing out. It is easy enough to fix, but should I replace the other side's ball joint at the same time? I'm sure the grease is not the freshest being over 5 years old. Any ideas? How long can I go without replacing the ball joint?

 

If money is an issue just replace the one with the torn boot. If it was my car I'd replace both, my reasoning being that if one when bad the other is soon to follow.

As far as how long you can go, well that depends. If you want to wait a while I'm sure you'll be OK. The joint is probably OK, but over time the grease will leak out & dirt will get in. That's what will kill the joint. Have you jacked up the car & checked to see if the joint is loose? That should tell you if it's time to replace the ball joint.

 

Neither wheel is loose in any direction. I'm going to order two ball joints from Pelican Parts and install them when they get here. I'll have to get a ball joint seperator tool from Harbor Frieght as well...

Thanks for your insight.

 

You are most welcome. Let us know how the job turns out.

 

The rubber wears out. I haven't checked the price for the Mini but my Bronco was very cheap to replace. I would say to do both. Then you know they are both new and will last another ___ years..

 

about 3,000kms, they found out that my passenger's side lower ball joint was shot, so i had that one replaced together with the driver's side lower ball joint. now i'm thinking if i should've had the left and right uppper ball joints replaced as well...

 

Uppers??? There are no upper ball joints on this car, just an inner and outer lower ball joint. The inner joint is actually one of the LCA pivot points. To replace these, you either have to remove the axles or remove the sub-frame.

 

well, the mechanic used "upper" and "lower" to distinguish the two from one another...

is it the inner or the outer ball joint that's smaller?

 

The outer ball joint is smaller.

I only ordered the one I need, the other will be replaced when it goes. The ball joint is on back order at pelican parts, it should be here in a few weeks.

 

You may want to consider adding this if you replace both ball joints.

Precision Steering Amplifier

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=139860

 

$36 ish from classic mini

also check your tie-rods. mine was literally 'SHOT' when i replaced it at 68K miles

 

A am replacing inner and outer tie rods, inner and out ball joints, power flex bushing and swaybar bushings this weekend. Yuk! I hate dropping the sib-frame. I just replaced all four endlinks, and installed the JCW kit...hopefully it will all stay together for more than a month...

 

My mate crashed my car, (the right wheel smashed a 15cm high gutter) and the control arms and the outer ball joints were replaced. I got the car back and took it to my suspension place, and they showed me how shot my inner ball joints were. The wheel could be moved around the vertical axis a hell of a lot. The right side was worse than the left.

What else beside the inner joint could cause this? i.e. if i were to change the inner joints, would this looseness be fixed?

Thanks

 

I strictly run 15" steel rims, so I can't use such a system.

 

Outer tie-rod

 

I took my 05 MCS to the Dealer and they said the left front ball joint needs replacing. On the print out, they gave me a dealer part number BM31-12-6-783-443 but I am not having any luck with that number. So, my question is, would that be the outer ball joint?

AND I tried the Pelican parts site but couldn't find mini ball joints. Any recomendations on where to buy and some illustrated instructions? (I'm a reasonably competent DIY but I'm new to the mini) The illustrated brake pad change on this site was great and a piece of cake. Ball joint is a little more complicated but I'm up for it.

 

It is part number 31126756309, and can be had for $76.75 on Pelican Parts.

That is a lot more than it used to be...
(>_<)

From my order in May of this year:

### Package Number: 1 of 1
### Shipping Method: Ground Delivery
### Expected Ship Date: Thursday, May 22
### Expected Arrival Date: Wednesday, May 28

Item Name Item Price Quantity Item Total
--------- ---------- -------- ----------
TOL-TA61900 $14.72 1 $14.72
Tie Rod End/Ball Joint Lifter
- This item is non-returnable except for warranty replacement -
applies to books, posters, tools, and electrical items .

----------------------------------------------------------------------
31126756309-BOE $39.75 1 $39.75
BALL JOINT

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shipping for Package 1: $10.50

Total Price: $64.97




Although it did take something like 7 weeks to arrive...