Upper Ball Joint Boot

[Vive les Fulvia]

Hi

I am replacing the upper ball joints on my S1 and have a question about the o-ring and boot. The old torn boot does not have a retaining ring/clip to hold it in place and the kit does has a o-ring.

The parts explosion shows an o-ring between the wishbone and ball joint retaining cap but I know from experience that sometimes the parts explosions is not entirely correct.

Is the o-ring actually intended to hold the boot in place? If not, how is the boot supposed to be fixed? I can't imagine that the ball joint has a protective dust boot that is not secured and allows in dirt.

Thanks in advance

[bmarler]

hmm, i don't remember an o ring when i did mine some time ago. the boot on s1 should be held in position by the thin steel retaining piece. i also remember that it was impossible to fit the retainer over the boot and get it all assembled. i remember putting a split in the boot retainer so it could be fit around the boot as it was assembled on the ball joint retainer. i used locktite ultra gel glue to glue the boot to the ball joint retainer as well just in case the thin boot retainer wasn't effective.
be careful with the suspension at full droop as it can put stress on the new boot.
i can't believe how many times i just wrote the words boot and retainer...

[Vive les Fulvia]

Thanks for the response. That is the exact problem I'm having. The retainer does not fit over the boot or when pre-assembled it it won't for over the flange. I may try cutting a slice into the retainer or get an o-ring to fit over the boot when its in situ. Originally, I though that item number 19 was used for this function because it was the case on previous cars, not Lancia's, and my current experience is that the explosions are not 100% accurate.

[Huib]

The system changed over time. On the earlier Fulvia's a spiral spring was used. The metal top covers do have a groove in the flange. Three pieces of steel were used to lock the M6 nuts.

On the later Fulvia's a steel ring was used to keep the rubber boot in place and lock the nuts. The top covers did not have a groove. Just a cilinder to slide the boot over.

If you have the tools I would grind off the top lip of the cover. I don't expect the boots that fitted the older covers to ever become available again.

Note that there are no grease grooves inside the ball housing. If you apply too much pressure on the grease gun you will push the ball out of the housing and you will have ruined the ball joint before the car goes on the road.

I always take the arm off. Replace the ball joint. Grease little. Put a long socket with extension over the nut on top of the cone. Swivel and rotate the ball till the grease becomes visible. Repeat several times. Whenever you do a regrease be carefull, very carefull. If done properly the joint will last 100.000 km. If botched only a few thousand.

The O ring goes between the ball joint house and the top cover to keep the grease inside. The O ring should go in the dip on top of the ball joint case just inside the edge around the outside. The O ring supplied with the ball joint is not always the right size.