anti roll ball joint allen key size?

Anonymous · June 27, 2005, 20:46

I think I need to tighten the ball joints on the anti-roll bar, after fitting some TTE springs. The ball joint has a hexagon/allen key hole in the centre, to hold the centre still while tightening/loosening the bolt... however I've tried 4mm & 5mm allen keys, and the 4mm is too small, and the 5mm just too big.

I'm guessing it might be 3/16 inch, but not 100% sure

Does anyone know?

Anonymous · June 27, 2005, 21:10

It's definitely metric, and probably 4mm. The 4mm in my set shows signs of having been in a rusty bolt, the 5mm is still clean.
Any chance the first mm or so of the bolt is stripped making the 4mm seem too small?
I installed my suspension after 4 winters (we get 80 inches of snow a year, and about 100 inches of salt), and with all the rust I had a hard time getting the allen wrench deep enough in the bolt to hold. I was pretty much stripping it a mm at a time until I finally used a hammer to get the wrench seated deeper.

Anonymous · June 27, 2005, 21:24

4mm seemed way way too small, all the way. Whereas 5mm seemed just a touch too big. Tried it with two different allen key sets. With the right hand one ball joint, the 5mm one will just about hammer into place, but the left hand one is just a bit too tight, hence my guess at 3/16, which is something like 4.75mm.

Also the allen socket doesn't seem too badly corroded at all.

Anonymous · June 27, 2005, 21:43

I checked again, this time with my glasses on, and you're right, the 4mm would be way too small.
I used a 5mm from a very cheap set, so I don't know how accurate it is (it could very well be a 3/16" masquerading as a 5mm).

Anonymous · June 27, 2005, 21:52

Cool, I'll see if I can get a 3/16, and see how that goes. Thanks lots for your help, it's much appreciated.

Anonymous · June 27, 2005, 22:03

You're too quick - I didn't even get a chance to edit my last reply.

According to the BGB (I should have checked there in the first place), it is indeed 5mm.
I also checked my allens again, and my 5mm does fit into a 5mm socket but not into a 3/16", so it really is 5mm.

So if you can't get the 5mm to work, you either need more rust or a bigger hammer. s:)

s:)

Tem · June 28, 2005, 06:19

Quote from: "phil4"5mm just too big

Maybe there's 0.1mm dirt in there s;)

s;) Scrape it all out first and that should fit perfectly.

Anonymous · June 28, 2005, 07:02

I'll have another go tonight, thinking I might try filing a little off my 5mm allen key, as well as having a good clean-out of the socket.

Jap GT300 · June 28, 2005, 09:49

If worst comes to worst you can use some long nose mole grips to stop it turning s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Anonymous · June 28, 2005, 21:23

Well, no matter what I tried, I couldn't get a 5mm in, so tried an imperial 3/16inch = 4.76mm, and it goes in ok, and is snug enough it seems.

Undid the bolt, re-tightened it, but still have a small gap between anti-sway/roll bar and that ball joint. And still seem to get some clanging when going over bumps on that side.

Thinking of putting a washer in to remove the gap, and seeing that cures the clang, otherwise it's a new anti-sway/roll link for me I guess.