Mr Noisy

LR definitely use Rubbolite stuff from factory, so quite possible: Very well specced vehicle, no wonder my energy prices are so high

Hello No, I have never fitted a swivel ball that was supplied in a genuine land rover parts bag. However, seeing as there are not various qualities of swivel available, we have to assume the ones supplied are up to the job. For instance oil seals are available in usually 3 qualities: budget, premium and genuine Budget are budget. When they leak, you blame yourself for buying them. Premium are the same as genuine, but in a Corteco box not a land rover bag, so they are half the price. Regard a swivel ball, there is only one quality, so maybe we are talking bad batch or bad manufacturer. I'd be surprised but relieved to hear there was more than one manufacturer. I have at least 5 swivel balls in store at the moment and I know for a fact they have different casting marks/machining inside of them You would assume a manufacturer would have the same casting each time? Can't see them all being sand cast these days?! Shop4Autoparts seemed to have jumped on the LR bandwagon recently, I wonder who they are, they seem to sell decent stuff very reasonable, I bought a few bits, LT230 gasket set and they made a point of selling a Viton seals option, also pad retainer set for approx £1.50, tremendous, and proper split pins with flattened end, you don't get that from Britpart.

The box shifters are mainly concerned with profit. They are large companies who need to save face to sell more products to lower their prices to sell more products to increase their buying power to lower their prices to make more profit. Basically. They are not selling on the basis of good quality parts. Britpart are prime example, everyone says they are terrible quality parts but they sell more stuff than any other firm, and when it comes to long extinct exterior trim parts for a 200 Discovery, britpart are the only people to speak to because they have someone in china knocking them out in a just about similar to original fashion. Nobody else does though. So to he big companies stay out of the debates because frankly entering into discussion is not going to end well. We bought cheap parts off them. They were ****, but were supposed to be ok. As it happens they were ****. So who is right or wrong? As such, steer clear of the debate! I think the thread should be pushed to let more 'important' people see the issue and hopefully comment, I also feel that regards OP's feeling towards the direction the thread has gone, here's another example: My friend bought a 2003 L322 range rover around a year ago. The water pump was weeping, BMW unit. I sourced a Circoli unit for it, they are around £60. Genuine LR/BMW would have been around £300. Anyway, about 53 weeks later this water pump fails, completely, catastrophic bearing failure, all water lost, fan belt shredded, AA truck home job. I have fitted MANY Circoli pumps before to various cars and they are supposed to be good quality, maybe he was unlucky, maybe he should have paid £300. However, the part we bought was cheap, some cheap parts last ages, some don't, but when your water pump goes it spoils your day. If your swivel balls goes, it could spoil your life. And I think this is why the "substandard swivel ball" problem is such a massive one, a catastrophic failure in this part is a big ****ing problem. And it's the sort of part which wears out and/or becomes unserviceable through reguLr wear and tear therefore is replaced as a matter of course through all walks of life. It is also the thinnest part of the axle and thus the sacrificial component, and simply needs to be up to standard. The profit seeking box shifted selling us products that solely resemble the original product are all well and good selling cheap water pumps with limited life expectancy IMO, but if they can't make swivel balls at an acceptable quality and price to compete with original quality LR, then I feel they should do us all a favour and not sell them at all.

Indeed. Would very much like to get some professional opinion. I once called Ashcroft and was told they had never heard of swivel balls breaking.

Yep, as a novice i replaced 2 diffs with new bearings, bought a DTI etc for the job didnt have too much money in them though so not too bad current build is looking like a grand for each diff build so im going to ask nige to build those for me, cant risk damaging that kind of equipment!!

Let's be honest, this is a ****ing disaster, these parts will prove to be lethal before long!

After all this, even if no real progress can be made legally or officially, at least we can start to spread the knowledge that modern swivel balls can be of low quality. I am championing the information on Landyzone and trying to let people know, hopefully the word will spread over the next few years and not too many people need learn the hard way. Here's some pics I sourced of the second vehicle of the two that failed on the recent Morocco trip: Again, this vehicle had brand new balls fitted weeks before the expedition!

Gizza clue!

remove, infact apart from diff pinion and transfer output seal i think ive removed every shield mud always gets in, shields stop you washing it out remarkable you say that retroanaconda, i also have serious problems wearing out rear inner brake pads, probably getting less that 1000 miles per set!

Wowzers. Looks like those 44" boggers had literally dug themselves a hole!

Indeed, apologies for the ambiguity. I have a pair of early 1990s vintage balls in superb condition. I however would not want to trust a pair of balls I bought from land rover today!

Yaaaaaaay

I'm certainly looking forward to extra confidence when I go wheeling with my chrome balls on

Badly wish Ashcroft made an HD version.

It's the steel.

I will try to get hold of a pair of tatty/sacrificial balls, one chrome one Teflon/spurious and will start with a spark test!

Good shout on the cooler Would not want to fit sensor to banjo, would restrict flow to almost zero Sump plug is available on auto sump but positions the sensor very vulnerably.

Exactly. It's generally too much of a grey area. But I'm not looking for any refunds, if rather pay double for a component that was going to work. I don't trust genuine LR balls, I think they will be identical, the price is just dealer profit.

A pal of mine has 300 auto disco and recently came back from Morocco We drilled a hole in his sump and welded in a temp sender boss to monitor AT temp I don't remember him mentioning a problem (engine coolant was the biggest climber I think) but he does have fill width allisport rad, inter cooler and AT oil cooler.

Agreed, defo.However akso a vehicle on 8" sensible offset wheels and another on standard LR wheels has recently broken new swivels

Being a 3.5, it's got maximum chances of being ok, and being on tickover it won't have got THAT hot especially seeing as it was on tickover and it's cold outside. I let mine overheat on tickover once off roading, similar fan problem, was doing some winching then BOOOOOSH steam cloud lol But yeah it was ok, see how you go!

Yeah could draft an email up and send it to various places, won't cost more than an hour or so...

Ah I see. It's only a very specific market though. I sent the pictures in to total off road for their chaos section, pics printed with explanation but not an eyebrow raised, maybe they're used to it!

Hello again As a prolific breaker of swivel balls (some poetic licence perhaps) I am glad that this subject has raised the eyebrows of a few folk. I am most surprised and have been since my initial breakage sometime in I think 2010 when the ball was only a few months old where to be honest I don't think a single person in the world had broken a swivel ball that this issue is not more well known. Then on an off road day in 2013 I break the other side (same original 2010 vintage item) and there is another person on the same site who broke a ball at the same time as me. Then my friend breaks one and another breaks one on the same trip in late 2013. Is this something which is filtering through now? The swivel is clearly the thinnest part of the axle assembly and therefore needs to be far stronger material than regular mild steel. It even looks a bit queer being so narrow throated on the end of a chunky axle. But what we can do I don't know. Perhaps an article to a magazine? Or all the magazines?

I sadly no longer posess the broken ball but to me, a novice, it looked very grey and "dry" metal, more like sand you would find on the beach rather than a nice piece of smooth, fluid structured metal Horrible looking stuff in fact, I'm amazed they manage to machine it smooth.