The 'E' Type Forum

I am aware that new reproduction top wishbones are available from a number of suppliers, these wishbones have a sealed for life joint fitted and are not repairable. my question is if I wish to keep my original top wishbones and have these non maintenance ball joints fitted which company actually does the work? I would like to have my original wishbones modified to take the non maintenance items but all I can find are suppliers who wish to sell new wishbones. Any ideas?

Tia

Are they new? I had an idea they were just re-con (re-plated) units with a sealed ball joint? That was just my take - I might well be wrong - but why would somebody be manufacturing these items - they're not the sort of thing you'd ever need normally?

Hi Hugo
Top wishbones eventually wear out and no amount of shimming will bring them back, you could have them re metalled and cut with the correct size ball cutter and start the whole process again. However, there are suppliers providing new, with sealed for life ball joints for around £250 which I suspect is a cheaper option.

My apologies - I had forgotten that the ball pin runs directly in the wishbone without a seat. I'm lucky - mine are perfect.

Angus Moss of Moss Jaguar can get them done for you.

Thank you David.

I think CMC made them originally. Certainly they used to advertise the ball joints as a seperate item.

I have used 2 sets of these and they do fix the clonk you get with worn originals. From looking at them I think that they are machined original parts rather than new castings. Certainly all were different and had evidence of old corrosion pitting on the arms.

Thanks all for your input. I bought a pair of fit for life ball joints from CMC, and found a machine shop with the necessary tooling to cut the original wishbones. The kit is very well presented with quality components and instructions for assembly and for the machine shop. Overall I would rate this as an upgrade/ improvement with the added bonus of being undetectable.

E600 wrote:Thanks all for your input. I bought a pair of fit for life ball joints from CMC, and found a machine shop with the necessary tooling to cut the original wishbones..

What did the machining cost and how did they do it?