Hi,
I'm having to change the upper balljoints in the mushrooms due to knackered boots and they seem quite loose, however I was amazed to find the
bolt inside canted over at such an angle that I can't see how I'm supposed to even get a socket in there! how are people managing this???
Cheers 
(I have posted on the RHOCAR but just in case someone here has done this)
I've dealt with a similar issue before by using an angle grider to "adjust" a cheap socket to make it fit. I highlight the word cheap
as I took the view that if I knackered the socket it wouldn't have cost me too much. At the same time (as you'll be well aware) it's a
suspension part you're dealing with so make sure you can get it done up to the correct torque without breaking the socket or slipping and
injuring yourself.
Anoth Robin Hood owner may well have a more enlightening answer for you - lets' see what comes.
I would second a cut down modified socket, as the nut looks from the photo to be more of a half nut than full size
And even normal sized sockets have a lot of redundent room above the nut
The socket may need the top tapering in as well
But thirdly, what a stupid design!!
steve
Thanks, I've found a 19mm socket (the size of the nut) and a 17mm 3/8 drive one and am going to slice up them up and weld the two together to
make a custom socket with a wobbly 3/8 extension bar 
Yeah this is not a great designed part at all but typical of this car...
Thinking further Mr Whippy - could you replace what I assume to be a Transit drag link end with a Rose joint type arrangement? If you could geta
permanebtly fixed (welded) pin in the RH part to fit the Rose type joint over with a nut from above you'd end up with a more serviceable solution
longer term.
Maybe more effort than you want to go to, but it seems a tidier all round solution. You could apply the same solution to the other side of the car in
due course as well.
If you're chopping up sockets, a small offset crow's foot type arrangement should work better than keeping everything coaxial. I'm not
sure there's room in there for a conventional crow's foot spanner.
Push the drive square off centre until you can get line of sight for the extension bar and leave a bit of room for rotation. It might take a while to
get the nut off but it's less likely to slip off and muller the nut (or shear the wobble end off the extension bar).
The 'tube' doesn't need to be as long as it is does it? The MK ones I have are just as long (50-60mm) as the clamped part.
If you were to cut your tube down to the shorter length could you fit a normal socket in?
Alternatively, buy the MK-type inserts which are a nicely turned single piece of steel and ditch these horrors altogether! 
Cheers!
quote:
Originally posted by James
The 'tube' doesn't need to be as long as it is does it? The MK ones I have are just as long (50-60mm) as the clamped part.
If you were to cut your tube down to the shorter length could you fit a normal socket in?
Alternatively, buy the MK-type inserts which are a nicely turned single piece of steel and ditch these horrors altogether!
Cheers!
Trim the tube down. As said, it doesn't need to be that long.
If that doesn't let you get on I'd suggest a ball end extension set. Allows you to work at an angle and without the extra length of a uj
extension (very useful and who doesn't like an excuse for new tools)... Or is it that there isn't room for the height of the socket? In
which case stubby socket set (see previous excuse).
Ah but one thing the RH wishbones don't have which makes this bit of bad design necessary is that if you look at the end of the MK one below
it's angled down (the one in the pic is upsides down), this is to prevent the joint running out of travel. Because RH have made the threaded tube
horizontal it meant they had to angle the mushroom instead! a hilarious oversight... which also means I can't use the MK mushroom... so I'm
stuck with it 
Although I do like the idea of a rosejoint I'll still have to make a tool to get this off so I'm not really any better off tbh and the
transit links are quite cheap. I think the tube is a tad over length which I may shorten a bit although I did want to add a bolt on the underside as a
safety lock to stop it ever being pulled out. The normal strut has a metal tab which prevents it being pulled out without the bolt being removed
first.
Good ideas though, thanks
[Edited on 14/9/20 by Mr Whippy]
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
Ah but one thing the RH wishbones don't have which makes this bit of bad design necessary is that if you look at the end of the MK one below it's angled down (the one in the pic is upsides down), this is to prevent the joint running out of travel. Because RH have made the threaded tube horizontal it meant they had to angle the mushroom instead! a hilarious oversight... which also means I can't use the MK mushroom... so I'm stuck with it
Although I do like the idea of a rosejoint I'll still have to make a tool to get this off so I'm not really any better off tbh and the transit links are quite cheap. I think the tube is a tad over length which I may shorten a bit although I did want to add a bolt on the underside as a safety lock to stop it ever being pulled out. The normal strut has a metal tab which prevents it being pulled out without the bolt being removed first.
Good ideas though, thanks
[Edited on 14/9/20 by Mr Whippy]
oh yeah, been a while since I had an MK
Solved the issue, I chopped a 19mm 1/2 drive and a 13mm 3/8 drive socket in half and welded them together. Then ground a 3/8 extension into a wobbly
one
Worked perfectly nut off in a few seconds, one for the toolbox cheers for the suggestions
[Edited on 14/9/20 by Mr Whippy]
Good to see you've got it sorted.
What I find strange though is there must be other Robin Hood owners out there that have faced the same problem (many that probably don't have
tool modification skills) so how have they managed to get the part together and apart?
My series III uses similar mushrooms, but without the arms for cycle wings and I've had no problem (just a vague memory of a pretty tight fit). It is possible that they are a little shorter, but one thing that probably does make a difference, is that my socket set (Halfords Pro 150 piece set from 18 years ago), uses 3/8" drive for its 19mm socket anyway and there is a wobble bar in the set too - so you've probably picked on a solution that, by chance, I simply didn't need to look for.