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[Nick W]

It's a simple press job. Especially fitting the new bush, as you don't want to damage it with a hammer. Although once again, there's no way I'd be grovelling about under the car fitting a bush just to avoid splitting a balljoint.


Do we have a price just for the bush, as the cost of the complete arm is quite high, unlike for a BMW. The Lemforder idler arm I fitted to my 525 was about £20, which made just buying the bush for £12  or a pattern arm for £15 pointless.

[chrisgixer]

It's a simple press job. Especially fitting the new bush, as you don't want to damage it with a hammer. Although once again, there's no way I'd be grovelling about under the car fitting a bush just to avoid splitting a balljoint.


Do we have a price just for the bush, as the cost of the complete arm is quite high, unlike for a BMW. The Lemforder idler arm I fitted to my 525 was about £20, which made just buying the bush for £12  or a pattern arm for £15 pointless.

The room between the boot is very tight to the centre drag link. There's very little room to get a splitter in there, and hence a danger of tearing the boot, if conventional shocking techniques don't work. No room to swing a bat.

No,press required to remove, although I doubt anyone has fitted a sleave replacememt on here or we would know about it already. But I'd bet a vice would do it.

Obviously it's not splitting the ball joint that's the issue, its doing so without ripping the "no longer available on its own sir, you have to buy the £200 odd centre drag link to get that boot" boot itself.

"IF" it could be replaced simply, without breaking that ball joint open then that can only be a good thing. Most mullered idlers I see round here are so far gone, because nobody so far can split that ball joint. They can be a real shit.

But if the sleave can be swapped with the part in the car, it's not an issue. Sleave fails far more often than the ball joint on centre drag link.

[Nick W]

In order:


Having replaced both the idler and the draglink, I think you're making mountains out of molehills. The draglink to idler was certainly tight and took a few blows to separate, but it was far easier than a suspension joint that has carried a car's weight for 40 years.


I'd prefer to replace the sleeve considering the cost of the idler, but so far, no-one has suggested a supplier or price. And mine is good, having replaced it 2 years ago. I'm starting to wish I'd kept the old idler so I could play about with it, but scrap goes straight in the bin. Vices aren't made for pressing operations, and you can bend the leadscrew or even break the casting if too much pressure is required. But we all do it unless a press is available. Mine has easily paid for itself both in money for this sort of job, and in making the this would be done by now if only I had a press jobs easy. 


Ball joint boots are readily available, but you have to break free from your dealer. And you have to know what size you want, but that's hardly rocket science. I didn't pay £200 for the draglink either.


You're probably right about the order in which the parts fail, but mine was the draglink joint; it was rattling about in its housing.

[Marks DTM Calib]

I note that the insert is available from Europe, might be worth asking the question of our tame GSF man?

I would expect these to be easy enough to fit, smack the old insert out, get the new insert in the freezer then bung the old arm in the over at circa 200 degC.

Bring the two together and they should fit with little persuasion. 

[chrisgixer]

In order:


Having replaced both the idler and the draglink, I think you're making mountains out of molehills. The draglink to idler was certainly tight and took a few blows to separate, but it was far easier than a suspension joint that has carried a car's weight for 40 years.


I'd prefer to replace the sleeve considering the cost of the idler, but so far, no-one has suggested a supplier or price. And mine is good, having replaced it 2 years ago. I'm starting to wish I'd kept the old idler so I could play about with it, but scrap goes straight in the bin. Vices aren't made for pressing operations, and you can bend the leadscrew or even break the casting if too much pressure is required. But we all do it unless a press is available. Mine has easily paid for itself both in money for this sort of job, and in making the this would be done by now if only I had a press jobs easy. 


Ball joint boots are readily available, but you have to break free from your dealer. And you have to know what size you want, but that's hardly rocket science. I didn't pay £200 for the draglink either.


You're probably right about the order in which the parts fail, but mine was the draglink joint; it was rattling about in its housing.

Trust me that boot is not available anywhere. And is Not a normal size. Far more shallow.

Also bear in mind imo we need to allow for all levels of experience on here when it comes to guides and recommended procedures. Obviously you won't need a guide and an easiest possible course of action. Simply there no point risking further damage, IF a simpler but yet to be found way exists.

My vice easily coped. No press required for Joe Bloggs to dismantle. So it might be safe to assume it would cope with reassembley. Not everyone has a press. (Although I do )

[chrisgixer]

But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves we don't know we can get the part yet.