Hi All,

I have an old S type jag here. Its quite low milage (about 13x,000kms from new). You know the sort of car, two elderly owners from new that both have sold it when they could no longer drive.

Anyway... I was under it giving it a check over.... And ..... wow .... every single boot is perished






every bushes dust boot, every droplink boot, every balljoint ... the tie rods.... Just mind blowing ...

Has anyone been down this road before? I've rang the local parts place, they sell all of the dust covers, but have warned me the quality is appalling and they will last very little time. That's a huge amount of work to put in when something is going to just crap itself in 12months time again.

Does anyone know where I can buy quality boots and dust covers ?

seeya
Shane L.

 

So I jumped under the car last night and took some piccies and measurements. This is what I'm looking at:

Rear suspension



Rear track road bar outer dust covers x 2 each side.


rear tracking rod, inner ball joint boot



top arm bush dust boots ( x 2 ) rear. front looks like it doesn't have dust boots.



so how the front top rear wishbone looks ok (possibly doesn't have dust boots??).



Lower arm front also appears to have no dust boots.




lower arm rear dust covers .... x 2.



rear arm rollbar droplink boots



Rear arm top ball joint boot.



lower arm rear bush boots.



rear arm lower shocker bush dust boots.

FRONT SUSPENSION



outer tierod joint boots



upper arm bushes.... the dust covers are kinda hidden so may pass a roadworthy.



top ball joint dust boot.



rollbar droplink top balljoint boot.



lower shocker bush dust boots and lower droplink boots.







Front lower ball joint boot.

As you can see this is going to be a massively huge job to replace just dust boots ..... However I need to find and indentify these boots

 

So here is what I could measure (including the existing deteriorated boots). So you would probably need to take 3 -> 4mm from the dimensions.

Rear

• outer track rod bush dust boots. 2 per side. inner: 25mm, outer: 32mm
• inner track rod ball joint boot 1 per side. inner: 23mm outer: 38mm
• Top wishbone rear bush dust boots 2 per side inner: outer:
• rear droplink boots 2 per droplink inner: 18mm outer: 33mm
• rear top balljoint boot inner: 24mm outer: 38mm
• lower arm outer arm bush 2 dust boots per side inner: outer:
• rear shocker lower bush dust boots inner: 28mm outer: 38mm

Front:

• outer tierod balljoint boot inner: 23mm outer: 37mm
• top ball joint boot inner: 23mm outer:
• droplink boots inner: 18mm outer: 32mm
• lower shock bush dust covers x 2 inner: 18mm outer 32mm
• lower ball joint boot can't measure
• lower arm bushes ..... look ok ? maybe no dust covers

 

So, I'm hoping someone can help/correct this list of dust covers/boots needed .... and show where they found them to buy online even

 

So I have ordered in a bunch of dust boots in various sizes. they are all over ebay/amazon/etc .... Is there any trick that is needed to get all of this apart. I'm assuming everyone just uses a pickle fork hammered into the joints to separate them. It looks like the arms should just unbolt and fall out ... so I can try and cobble together some boots to cover everything (so it will pass a roadworthy).

I did just watch a youtube video that showed the lower arm bolt sets the caster (so I will need to mark that so it goes back into the identical spot).

Do manuals exist for these cars anywhere that can be downloaded?

seeya
Shane L.

 

I sometimes use a special ball joint u shaped press. The pickle fork is not the right size for a couple. Too small or too big. The boots i tried were hard to reinstall because of the way they seated at the joint edge. I just replaced all ball joints getting new boots. It was easier and now joints are less than 5 years old

 

Lets hope it doesn't come to that. It sounds like availability of ball joints is an issue. I need to get the car a "roadworthy" so I can put it in my name soon'ish. I'd prefer not to wait weeks and weeks and ....... for parts to arrive from other countries

rollbar droplinks were available locally on ebay, so I ordered a set of them in easier than replacing the boots, and those things always go rattly on every car I've owned! (usually while also feeling slop free).

 

Well this has been some fun I did a quick google of "how to remove suspension arms" etc .... and all that came up was trying to cut apart ball joints and people struggling immensely trying to get the ball joints apart etc ....... Oh man, what have I done this time. So first, I figured I better grab a ball joint separator that should work. I've nothing here, I've broken every other puller/breaker (other than the hammer driven fork ... even that is bent out of shape and twisted from me beating the merde out of it with a sledge hammer).



I'm sure they will come in handy at some point .... I haven't even needed to remove them from there boxes..... sigh ...

Anyway, I had a good look and scratched my head and bit and finally decided, the spring looks contained into the strut unit .... it shouldn't be be able to "spring out" under great force as I dismantle stuff taking my head with it .....



So I first removed the shocker bolt .... to fit some new boots and found the bush was wobbling around and the center had obviuosly broken away from the bush (damn it, that will be what the rattling was, not the rollbar droplink). So I whipped straight over to the computer and ordered in a pair of these on ebay. Looking at the suspension, I guess this isn't just a "shocker bush", its actually carrying the entire load of the suspension as its attaching the strut. Well that's a good start.



As expected after finding that strut bush, this feels very tight and "perfect". I didn't bother replacing the boots as there is new ones waiting at the post office for me.



It looks like I just start unbolting stuff and hope it all comes apart. I've decided I'll leave the front upper arms in, as the dust covers actually look ok on the front arms (weird as everything else is junk!).



I ordered in two universal boot kits (and already have 1/2 kit here). They are about $2.00aud per boot .... or 1 quid per boot. A lot of them I probably won't use from the kit though.



Weirdly everything has just been unbolting. Notice the boots aren't rubber. They are all plastic crap.

 

You know how I had a rattle that sounded like a droplink in the front corner .... that I discovered was the strut bush ..... Well .... Umm....... It doesn't look like anyone has ever been here before. Did the factory forget to tighten the damn balljoint ??




Top arm ball joint loose....



I'll be damned .... It's not pulled down into a taper .... Infact its falling apart. It locks into that concave shape in the suspension housing rather pulling down into an impossible to break taper. Why would I need balljoint separators for this ?? (they are still new in there box, I haven't needed them).

 

This has to be the easiest car I've ever worked on in my life. Undo a few bolts ... and the arm falls out ... Probably took 10minutes ... Amazing.



And now I feel like a moron. That front strut bush I thought was a collapsed rubber bush...... They aren't bushes. They are yoke type ball joints. No rubber to be found. Its a "ball joint" pressed into the arms. Sigh, so I didn't need to buy drop links or front strut bushes. These are tight like new still. I will replace the front strut bush/bearings when they arrive now I've purchased them though.


See a solidly mounted ball joint .... no rubber to be found. That is why the "bushes" need dust boots, they are actually ball joints (I'm sure everyone else knows this, and its just me that is dumb).







I just cleaned away the remains of the old boots, added some grease and fitted the closest size boot from the kit.

 

The tracking should remain unchanged front and rear as I haven't touched any of the adjusters.



I just screwed the top arm back in to support the hub (so I wouldn't need to touch the driveshafts)..... and bugger me if the lower arm didn't just easily fall out too after unscrewing a few bolts. I should have bought one of these cars years ago, I'm used to battling for bloody hours trying to get this sort of stuff apart.



this shows better how its just a "ball joint" sleave.



Its about now it occurred to me, I dont want to fit the boot clips. The boots need to "rotate" rather than flex like a ball joint as the suspension moves and and down. This would tear the boots almost immediatly. So I left at least one side of these boots without a retaining clip so they can easily rotate without twisting the boot.




Just one almost intact plastic bit of crap left on the car ... why would they use plastic?



I'm out of useful sizes of boots, but have "just" finished given I have to front strut bearings and droplinks in the post. Yes I managed to drop something on the micrometer while I was under the car measuring for a boot size ....

 

Anyway, sizes:
Front:
Top ball joint boot 30mm outer, 16mm inner
bottom ball joint boot 40mm outer, 22m inner
outer tierod boot 32mm outer, 16mm inner
others not changed

Rear:
rear rollbar droplink boots:

• 28mm outer 12mm inner
• 28mm outer 16mm inner
• Used 28 x 14mm for both

rear top arm inner balljoint/bush/bearing dust boots:
27mm outer 18mm inner (used 28 x 13 boot)

Top rear arm outer ball joint boot:
30mm outer 16mm inner

Rear outer track rod boot:
32mm outer, 16mm inner (used 30 x 14)

Rear track rod inner boot:
34mm outer, 20mm inner ( used 34 x 20 )

rear strut bearings/bush/balljoint:
28mm outer, 20mm inner

Rear lower arm inner bush/balljoint/bearing:
31 outer 22 inner .. (used 31 x 21 boot)

Lower outer lower joint bush/bearing/balljoint:
31 outer 22 inner .. (used 31 x 21 boot)

All of these boots were contained within those universal boot kits.

 

well I ordered in the wrong suspension bushes (the hole through them is 2mm to small) .... sigh .... however the droplinks. They said "heavy duty" on the advert which I assumed was just the usual advertising crap ... But check this out.



Isn't that remarkable. the entire thing is waaayyy beafier. The rod is thicker and both ball joints are way bigger. replacing the droplinks has fixed most of the suspension sound. Over big bumps you can still hear some noise. I'm guessing its the strut bushes must have a tiny bit of slop (maybe?). everything feels nice and tight.

 

Please be sure to only tighten the rear lower arm to subframe bolts when the car is on it's wheels to prevent damage to the 'bushes'.
Could also be applicable for front but not sure.

Edit:
On it's wheels and full weight on it.

 

Yes, I did that as it just seemed like common sense I just bolted the arm bushes loosely then tightened them once the car was back on its wheels.

 

I have dine all the arms and bushes on my 06 str. The hardest to do are the front sway bar bushes i think. I had to repace the radiator and then they were easy. Wow what a difference. And they were the last ones done. No more bumpity bump and solid as i could not believe. Only thing is i forgot to lube the inner part of the bush and get a squeak now and then. I think the R model has a beefier subframe that makes it real difficult to do them without removing a couple things

 

Oh, sway bar bushes... maybe that's my front end rattle. They must be "out of sight, out of mind" as I didn't think to check for them. I still have a rattle that screams "roll bar or droplinks" to me in the front corner. To my (very unprofessional) tests, checks and searching. Everything seems tight with no slop. So the rattle is a frustration.

 

From the Day Late and Dollar Short Department, here’s my experience with some front end work on my ‘02:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...l-arms-264748/


Sounds like you are way past that stage, but some of the details may still help.

 

Well I still have a rattle in the front of the car (screams rollbar droplinks or possibly rollbar bushes). the thing is, I've replaced the droplinks and the rollbar bushes look excellent from the outside. The guy that did the roadworthy said they can rattle even when they look fine (what are they rattling against though?). Anyway, I did find a tiny, tiny bit of slop in the front lower ball joint. I have a good look and decided that would be quite difficult to mount in a press. So after years of "trying to just make do".... I finally purchased one of those big ball joint tools.



I purchased this kit from the local parts store. It looked pretty heavy duty to me.



absolute junk! This would be just a simple ford ball joint right? Its not even in this universe close enough to being able to press a simple small balljoint. This is advertised as a 4wd ball joint press. This is a weeny little passenger sedan. The "C" clamp needs to be much, much bigger.



After a bit of scratching my head I finally decided to cut it off (which is bad, as now the car is imobilised if I can't get the joint out).



Just junk ... complete crap. I still struggled to find a combination of bits that would work.



What a joke, I ended up going through scrap metal etc trying to work out a way of pushing it further out. No matter what you do this "4wd" ball joint press is beyond useless.



I couldn't apply enough force to start it moving.... I ended up with the 3/4" impact onto it. I was waiting for the tool to shatter into my face



Once again ... trying to press the joint in. Nothing is even remotely close enough to big enough. Just pathetic junk.



once again with nuts, scrap metal, sockets ... Note: I'm not pushing against the outer part of the ball joint like I should be.



If you are going to buy one of these crappy sets, make sure its waaaaayyyyyy bigger than this one. It does look very large and heavy duty. But its just crap.

seeya
Shane L.

 

When trying to remove old bushes, sometimes it makes a HUGE difference to use a gas blowtorch and heat up the metal.