Bad ball joints?

[510farmer]

What's up folks

I recently took off all of my steering linkage and suspension components

Greeting ready to paint the bay and such

I got all the linkage hot tanked to get the 40 yr plus worth of grim and crap cleaned up

And it came back super clean just like I wanted

I plan on changing the idler arm bushing

But all the linkage and ball joints TO ME! Look pretty good no slop or anything broken

What do you folks look for to determine if a ball joint is bad or to worn to use

Thx farmer

[datzenmike]

Closest to a 510 I could find is my '74 610 FSM.

 

It says the end play should be 0.039" or about 1mm. I assume this is up and down movement in the ball joint? and more is bad.

 

There is also a measurable force for continuous turning of the ball joint. Looks like between 10 and 40 inch pounds.

 

 

If boot is cracked or torn or ball does not turn or rotate smoothly... replace. In any other case, fit a zerk? fitting and pump all the old crap out until filled with your favorite grease.

[MikeRL411]

"Zerk" is the proper name!  Note that "some" Datsun suspension fittings clearances [think mostly 13 inch wheels] are so close that Nissan opted to go the Zerk fitting removed and replaced with a flush fiting hex cap.  You need to remove the place keeper caps, don't loose them, install convertional Zerks, grease the hell out of the fiting, remove the Zerk, try to remember where the hell you put the caps so that you would not loose them and reinstall.  Or take careful eyeball measurements and try your luck on clearance with the Zerks left installed.  My RL411 has tolerated the Zerks in the front suspension for a lot longer than I can remember!  Good enough clearance to the standard JN 5 1/2 x 5x13 wheels.  Or was that 5 1/2 x 6 x13?  I can't remember!