General Ball Joint and Pillar

[cipher]

About two weeks ago, our bus spat its dummy out and died in the middle of the road.

What happened was the offside ball joint separated from the pillar, dropping the car to the ground, and slamming the wheel into the back of the arch.

So I replaced the wishbone, and all was well. Until yesterday, where it did the same thing.

I am now thinking that the pillar may be worn, and not holding the ball joint shaft securely.

Has anyone else come across this, and is fiat really the only place to get the pillar from?

Many thanks

 

[jasonh131]

yes mate
on the mk1, the pillar pinching bit was worn and was clonking up and down ..
luckly not as bad as what happened to you, so sorry mate.
i had to get a cutting disc on an angle grind in between the pinch bit to cut out more of a gap ,it was closing up and still not pinching enough.. then use
high tensil steel bolts as the fiat bolts just snaped..
you can do it with the drive shaft still in just cover with a metal shield zip cliped in place to save the rubber boot.
worked a treat
jason