Britpart wide angle A-Frame ball join - anyone tried them?

[Chicken Drumstick]

http://www.paddockspares.com/fulcrum-bracket-with-high-articulation.html

Did a bit of a Google, but only finding vendors rather than reports on these.

Anyone tried one? How do they perform and last vs other offerings on the market?

Reason for asking is, my brother is about to fit a disc rear axle to his drum Ninety. And is over hauling the axle and all the bushes at the same time.

He currently has a new X-Ball ready to fit, but this will require a press to remove the old balljoint and fit this one. Which isn't available where he is doing the axle swap. So he is tempted to buy this kit that comes complete, as an alternative. Being as it would then be a simple bolt in procedure.

I think the X-Eng one is likely the better thing to fit ultimately. But it's not an extreme Land Rover with only a modest suspension setup at present. The only concern with going for the Britpart one is, if they have a tendency to wear out in 6 months of use.

I'm assuming the X-Eng X-Ball is well designed, as most/all of Simon's products are.

Anyone able to offer any feedback?

[JeffR]

He needs to remember that Britpart can mess up a wet dream.........

[simonr]

The X-Ball was not designed by me - I just bought one of every ball joint on the market, measured the offset angle and picked, actually the one with the second greatest offset. The one with the greatest, I considered badly made!

The third greatest offset was actually a genuine Land Rover part.

In practice, I wouldn't worry too much as the difference between the least and most was only a couple of degrees either way which will only add an inch or so of articulation. What adds more is making sure that when the suspension is 50% extended, the pin in the middle of the ball joint is smack bang in the centre of the hole it pokes out of. If it's not, the side to side movement will be limited. You achieve this by adjusting the length of your rear trailing arms (usually lengthening them). How do I do this? My arms are not adjustable? I hear you ask!

Where the metal flange on the bush mounts to the chassis, space it away with washers. Before I designed the X-Joint, mine were spaced backwards by 3mm which added 40mm to the travel my (stock) ball joint allowed. This was enough that with 14" travel shocks fitted, the shocks ran out of travel before the ball joint.

I would only consider a wider angle if you are going for greater than 14" travel and unless you're buying Fox or King (or other expensive shocks) that's unlikely. Most shocks marketed as for example +5" have about the same travel as the standard shock, but are 5" longer. This is useful to maintain travel if you've raised the suspension, but doesn't give you much more articulation. For reference, a standard shock has 9" of travel. Fix the problem that causes the ball joint to run out of travel rather than the ball joint.

[Daan]

I would only use Britpart in this application if the aim is reduction of the population.

[Maverik]

I've got a Britpart A frame ball fitted just now, Got a genuine one ready to fit if needed, seems to be ok, but only been fitted a few months. Was a pain to fit the locking pin to the big nut as the holes are all a bit too small... typical Britpart really.

[honitonhobbit]

Thank you for that Simon - another question now answered. Would there be a chance you could write a book on your experiments/findings; as I would buy it. X-answers....