Having searched on here and posted etc I finally set about reaming the bottom ball joint on the front hubs with the Axminster 19mm handy reamer (great service from Axminster - ordered late and it came early the following day). Took the hub off and put it on the desk and set about it. After over a 1 hour I have made barely any progress!!!!!!! How much pressure should be applied when spinning the reamer? What cutting fluid have people used? What am I doing wrong?

Mine had a shaft which fitted into my 18v drill and I just ran it on low speed - job took 5mins/hub
Regards
Hugh

Reamers normally shouldn't be "spinning" I normally find moderate pressure and rotating by hand tends to work best although I have never tried using a reamer with any sort of machine . The drilling, tapping fluid from tool station works well

I have never done this before so I don't know. I applied moderate downwards pressure as I was turning by hand. My hand a wrist starts to ache quite quickly. I have made some progress as the metal is shiny and smooth whereas is was mildly coloured before. I am rotating the reamer so the cutting edge bites the metal the same a a drill bit. I assume this is correct?

I am using Granada Cosworth front hubs - I am assuming they where made of the same metal as the sierra versions. I read a post on here that is should take twenty minutes per side. At the moment its more like twenty hours..

I might nip out and get some cutting fluid from toolstation.

Are Granada hubs (also other Sierra/Granada/P100 HD front ends) not pinch bolt rather than the normal taper fitting ?

pinch bolt on the top and a tapered hole at the bottom.

I have seen pinch bolt type lower mounts on the front hubs of granada and sierras on the 4 wheel drive variant of the cars, the normal 2wd use the taper fitment

Cheers
David

Grease the reamer and use LOTS of pressure, turn slowly and try not to let the reamer turn without cutting or you may blunt the teeth.

Is this really the right tool?

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-axminster-handy-reamer-prod23107/

"For opening holes in sheet metal or deburring pipes". Sounds like it's for soft/thin metals rather than something like the hub.

When I took mine to MK to do, they used a pillar drill/mill bit to do it. It didn't take long to do and cost (I'd guess- it was 8 years ago) about £5 per side.

Admittedly I don't know how much you need to enlarge the holes but I can't see how you'll get it accurate by hand!

At MK the upright was mounted in a special jig to hold it at the right angle. My worry is yours won't fit properly and you'll get 'slop' in the fitting which will feel like the BJ has failed.

Good luck!

James

There are lots of posts on here about people doing it with the exact tool I have. For some reason I am having problems. It's a hours drive from here to MK.

Maybe Sylva Autokits in Horncastle will be able to do it for me - their a lot closer

quote:

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Originally posted by Irony
There are lots of posts on here about people doing it with the exact tool I have. For some reason I am having problems. It's a hours drive from here to MK.

Maybe Sylva Autokits in Horncastle will be able to do it for me - their a lot closer

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Final got them finished. I was not putting enough downward pressure on the reamer. I thought the way to do it was to spin the reamer in the hole and it would wear away the metal. It does work and leaves a lovely finish but takes ages. By turning the reamer slowly and putting a lot of downward pressure the reamer literally grinds the metal out in slivers. Took me about a hour each in the end. The Maxi Ball Joint seems to fit perfectly without any play at all.

Cool, glad to hear it worked! Nice to hear of another job that can be done DIY and relatively cheaply too!

Cheers,
James

I did mine today and wasn't looking forward to it having read this.

It was ok as I had them both done in about 20 mins.

Thanks for posting a follow-up to the problem! This will help me when I come to doing this in the new year and I'm sure it'll help others that search for this topic.