Remanufacturing Process

All joints are opened and the housing machined ready for closing the joint. The ball stud is measured in a profile projector to magnify the taper. Measurements can be made from this to three decimal points. This ensures the taper connection to the car is safe and secure. If the joint is a steel seat type, the ball stud is case hardened. All truck and bus ball studs are case hardened regardless of seat type, (steel or nylon).

Case hardening involves immersing the ball in a liquid sodium syanide salt bath at 900 degrees celcius for one to two hours depending on ball diameter. The component is quenched in oil then tempered in an oven to relieve stress in the steel.

The seats are measured and machined in the CNC lathe to the same tolerances as the ball stud. With the new seats and ball stud back in the joint a new spring and cap is fitted and then the joint is closed and checked. The steel used for our ball studs and steel seats is EN36A or EN39B. The nylon used is Molydium Disolphide. This is an oil filled self-lubricating nylon.

We handle a range of different sizes and quantities of joints, so we have had to make dies and mould our own dust boots to ensure joints leave with a correct fitting boot. The boots are moulded from a raw 4170 Neoprene rubber. All joints leave our workshop with a new dust boot made by HBI Engineering.