Mitsubishi Delica Owners Club UK™

[skodarapid]

Looking for opinions or people's experience with a pulsating feeling in the brake pedal.  All I have done is change the lower ball joint (rhs front) but:

1 - that did involve a plumber's style gas torch to heat the old one up a bit because it was rather stubborn.
2 - I torqued up the castellated nut with the vehicle on axle stands, fitted the split pin, the manual says to temporarily tighten then fully tighten with vehicle on the ground, of course there is no way you can get a torque wrench with socket on that nut when with the wheel there!

Any comments appreciated.

[Google]

[Lewis]

Nothing you did there would affect the brake system in any way.

Torquing up the wheel nut, 'with the vehicle on the ground' is equivalent to doing it with the wishbone held up by a trolley jack, with the wheel off.  
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[skodarapid]

Ah, well I didn't have a jack under the wishbones at any point.  I had the Delica sat on axle stands supporting the crossbeam only, wishbones hanging free.

I'll see if I can tighten it any further using a spanner with the thing on the ground.  However, I agree that the balljoint shouldn't affect the feel of the brake pedal in any way, google does say different hence my question.

I was more worried that I had the flame on the lower ball joint / hub carrier and obviously right behind it is the brake disc.  Can you warp a disc like that?

[Lewis]

There is a brake disc cover between the joint and the disc, then a gap, so that would negate the effects of any heat.

Additionally take into account that the front brake disc is a ventilated cast steel disk that is then machined to create the surface. It is designed to enable it to take a large amount of heat, without warping.
Your limited use of a gas plumber's torch is not going to create enough heat, for long enough, to affect the disk.  
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Copyright is retained for all my photos. Please don't copy them without asking permission
Do not blindly go where the path may lead you. Go where there is no path and leave a trail that others may follow!
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[andyman]

How is your tyre wear? You may have altered the tracking by replacing the ball joint. Your tyres will have worn to the previous worn joint's alignment. Disc brakes in use get friction heat applied fairly evenly, if you have had your blow torch on a disc in one place for long enough, you could just conceivably have affected it, although, as Lewis says, unlikely. The best way to find out is by spinning the disc and putting a dial gauge across it. You could put the back axle on stands, lift the affected corner, and run it in 4WD locked with the wheel off. You should be able to see any wobble in the disc, or be able to rig up a fixed pointer against the disc face to assess any wobble.
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[Deker]

skodarapid
Did you remove the hub with brake disc and back plate  

And why did you use a hot spanner (meaning hot torch) on the joint  

I replaced Driveshaft gaiters on a members L400 recently, that job requires removing upper and lower steering joints.
To do so, I also took off the hub with disc, and back plate.

Apart from "Supermans Apprentice" had been there previously (Over tightened all the fasteners   )
Made the job really difficult - more      I did not need a hot spanner.

NOTE = The joints (in good condition) were NOT being replaced with new ones.

As Lewis states, I put a jack under the lower wishbone arm to tighten the lower joint,
therefore negating the need to lower the car onto ground.

Mr D

[skodarapid]

Andyman, I've only just done the job so no tyre wear problems yet.  I shall at least perform homebrew tracking.  The plan is to sort the front left ride height before proper alignment.

Deker, the lower ball joint bent my ball joint separator tool, so then I bought the fork type you just whack in there. It took heat plus a lot of beating for it to separate from the hub carrier. Perhaps the heat was surplus to requirements, I don't know.
Yes eventually I removed the three bolts from the top joint, unclipped the driveshaft circlip and the hub was free enough to remove the balljoint / fit the new one.  I did not touch the trackrod end, nor the brake caliper or hose.  I had to take care not to damage the hose.

I think it requires more disassembly than I did but I really didn't want to detach the trackrod end and screw that up also, it isn't old.

[Lewis]