Dr Mark's Tardis

The ball joint rubbers were split on three of the four ball joints at the ends of the tie rods. There was no sign of any deterioration of the ball joints themselves. That's good because the joints are expensive, hard to replace and affect the wheel alignment. That being said, the job was not easy. The parts:    The ball joints 93802209 [ Now 500310933) (£48+)     The rubbers themselves  Top 18mm Bottom 42mm height 30 mm    Ball joint nut M18 x 1.5 Nyloc (15504121)    Suspension arm nut M16 x 1.5 Nyloc (15504021) Top joint:  Undo the ball joint nut. Use the jack to lift it up until the weight of the vehicle is pushing it out, then hit the housing hard, really hard with a hammer. it will pop out. However the ball joint can't be worked on without undoing the other end of the tie rod. The tie rod and ball joint can then be worked on on the bench. Remove the damaged boot. Clean (mine were not dirty) pack in a bit of CV grease and ...

One failed on the road, so I looked up and bought new repla cements. I was surprised to see that the active and return springs were different parts: Cable: 7167800 £3.97 Return: 716801 £2.14 All now replaced and a spare pair in the tool box.

Here is just an odd list of the little jobs that needed doing on our big trip. Some have longer blogs to themselves: Solar controller changed to MPPT. I'd upgraded from 20Amp MPPT to 40 Amp because techncially my 280W solar panels can give out more than 20Amps. This was a mistake though. The old controller still worked in bright sun but just could not use all available power. My main problem was getting the most power out in poor light conditions - that's where MPPT wins. So I now have a bimble solar 40Amp MPPT controller (and a spare Steca 40A PWm controller - any offers?). Rear Step rebuilt in Tafraoute using local materials. Wood and Diabond as used by the many small workshops making windows. Exhaust brackets welded by a small workshop at the side of the road. Alternator failure. I'd had that before so I recognised the symptoms. Well I'd expected to buy a new alternator and wait a couple of weeks. Instead a small workshop in Safi disassembled it, did somre te...