No Shim Ball Joints

[MiniDave]

I've installed a couple of sets of these on other people's cars, and I finally bought a set to use on my own cars, tho they haven't gotten here yet. Don just put a set on his Pup this week as try as he might he could not get one of his shimmed up properly - they can be really frustrating!

The best price I've found on these are from Steveston Motors in Canada, they sell the Japanese made versions. From MiniSpares they currently run about $290/set plus shipping, from Japan they were about $240/set plus shipping, from Steveston I bought 2 sets for a little under $400 - shipped!

When they get here I'll do a writeup, tho I don't think they'll feel any different from properly shimmed regular joints, it's just that you never have to mess with them again! They're predicted to last 20-30,000 miles, which for most people it's more miles than they'll ever drive their Mini.

I've done about 25K on my green car since I bought it, and plan to do plenty of miles on my hot rod once it's done, so I think the peace of mind these bring will be worth the price. Plus you never have to fiddle with shims again!

Oh, and if you've just had an alignment done, you can change these out, it won't change your alignment settings at all. They come with the lock plate, but I think I'll just use some locktite on the threads instead. Steveston says either way is fine. When you use these you do not use the cup and spring under the std ball joint, just screw them in and you're done. My 1 1/2" socket doesn't fit over the rubber boot, they recommend that you remove the boot, tighten the ball joint then put the boot back on. I found that my 1 1/2" box end wrench fits over the boot just fine, and being a big ass wrench it allows me to get those suckers tight!

Here's a link - No Shim Ball Joints

[bikewiz]

I'll be curious as to your impression of them when you get them on. The quality of the original shimmed style is suspect at best.
I finally gave up on the original style and put on a set of Minisport alloy hubs that come with Metro style sealed joints, I haven't done anything to them since I put them on pre-COVID, maybe 8500 miles, when I had the front end apart for the rebuild they're still smooth and tight.

[MiniDave]

The two cars I've done so far report that they're "fine", meaning they wouldn't know even if they were loose!   

I won't get them till next week, then I'll pop them in and see how it goes from there.