'89 LT28 MOT failure

Yesterday, nothing done, no brakes since you need the half-shaft seal carrier for the shoe springs. I did get the half-shafts back, and a nice job it looks. I gave the temperatures required and the collars had obviously been well heated.

AndyT, Checked where and how the knock was happening. Only when pulling at 6, so discerned that it appears to be the ?upper swivel joint"? Top of the stub axle casting.

Thanks AndyT, my thoughts exactly, in for a penny in for a pound.

I'd say doing both depends on the cause of failure - if it's from wear or dirt ingress from perished boots then yes, but if from damage to the boot then it doesn't mean the other one is in the same state.

There seems to be a few poor quality ball joints out there - One was replaced on mine just before I bought it in 2006 which failed the MOT after 3 years/20k miles. I replaced it with one from ECP and just MOT'd it again and got an advisory on the same ball joint. This one has only lasted 15k miles so by replacing OK parts you might be taking off something that had more life in it than the replacement!.

I've seen OE ones on eBay for about £40 which is twice the price but may be worth it if you're planning to keep the van. Splitting the joint was tricky as it was too big for both my ball joint splitters, so I had to improvise with a home made tool which fitted between the top and bottom BJs. I put an extra nut on the bottom BJ, and as I loosened that it pressed against the upper BJ and forced it out. Obviously no use if you're doing both!

I've been following this with interest because i'm fairly sure my rear nearside needs doing.  It's getting hot and the wheel cyclinder is new so it can't really be anything else.  I looked in the haynes manual, I saw how difficult the job was and tried to forget about it

We've all been there I think, pain in the wotsit.
Sometimes happens even if you quote part numbers from the item.
Still you are over half way there, just think of the dosh you are saving as opposed to paying a garage.

Know what you mean but at least it's a job that can be done in crap weather. I need several dry days in a row to do the bodywork on my old bus.

Don't know if it's of any interest but I bought some waterproof overalls from machine mart, cost about £40 but are absolutely ace. Only complaint is that they can be too warm.
On warm days I wear ex-Mod gortex stuff, had it for 20+ years and it still keeps me dry.

One of my pet hates is bods who don't call you back so my sympathies there, hope you get it sorted.

Nice man from GSF delivered the correct LBJs, took another 15 quid. Apologised profusely, but the main thing is that they sorted out their mistake as quickly as they could.

Apart from the aforementioned trials and tribulations that all went quite well. I have ended up replacing more brake lines than I really wanted to, but ?who uses steel lines these days?

Edited by LTCamper89 - 09 Oct 13 at 20:53