Heavy Duty front droplinks FAILED after 4 weeks!!

[timmyt]

Hi all,long time no speak!,
sadly its not a happy time for the beloved bongo...after replacing the front drop-links,bushes and brackets all was great untill after only 4 weeks the passenger side started making the dreaded noises again and after finally getting around to removing the link it revealed 'excessive' play in one of the links
these are the ones

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mazda-Bongo-front ... 240%3A1318

have contacted the seller and await his reply......

anyone else had similar problems?

[mikexgough]

Not had the pleasure of needing to replace yet.....BUT after looking at the Forum, I think I will have to be choosy as to who I purchase from....I note the ad says "HEAVY DUTY".....&..... Ultimately, "Matching O.E Quality Parts" is no longer a satisfactory solution, when "O.E Quality" is inadequate..... It appears in your case that the parts you were supplied were branded as Heavy Duty when indeed they were inadequate..... hope you get the matter resolved....

[missfixit70]

Same seller mine came from, but they didn't go quite that quickly, about 9 months I guess before I started noticing the noise returning, he did replace them FOC though, which I fitted a few months ago, ok so far. Mine weren't the heavy duty ones.

[timmyt]

ill give him the benefit of the doubt to rectify but must say i am very worried about the time in which its taken to fail

[bigdaddycain]

Oh great.... I think mine have started clonking too!

[brorabongo]

I've noticed the rubber has split on mine aswell, no clonking yet though.

[bigdaddycain]

I'll check mine out tomorrow... I was jacking the bongo up anyway to check the rear brakes, so i may as well give her an all over check while i'm at it.

[Trouble at t'Mill]

They look pretty good in the ad!

I wonder - based on brora's post above - if the rubber 'boot' is the weak point - perhaps a batch with poor seams. Once the rubber fails and water/grit gets in, I wouldn't expect even high quality ball joints to last very long.

[missfixit70]

Seems to be the nail on the head there TATM http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... ks&start=0 wonder how long they may have been sat on a shelf, or whether it's just a crap composition?

[brorabongo]

Just taken a photo of my near side front drop link.......well theres nothing else to do at 12:40am




I'm off to bed now, Goodnight all

[missfixit70]

Need to get that soaked in wd40 after a damn good wire brushing young man Get some waxoyl in there once you've done em.

[Veg_Ian]

Just taken a photo of my near side front drop link.......well theres nothing else to do at 12:40am

Jeez Brora where do you live to get that much rust - under the sea??

[brorabongo]

Joys of living close to the sea, driving on the saltiest roads in the UK, and doing 20k miles a year. Oh and wash the bongo twice a year. ( once for the MOT)

Those drop links can't be more than two years old.

Mazda's originals next me's thinking.

[stilldesperate]

I'm now interested as to the purpose of fitting "heavy duty" droplinks.

If, as mine (and it appears most) fail because of wear in the bearing, it's this part of the component that needs to be "heavy duty".
Increasing the rod diameter from 8mm to 10mm, will not make any difference. How many owners have had the rod fail?

Wouldn't protecting the bearing from the ingress of water/grit be the best solution. I was thinking of covering the new bearing rubbers with grease, but thought this might attract road grit and might even corrode the rubber - experiments with Durex and baby oil spring to mind

Any thoughts?

SD

[missfixit70]

Self amalgamating tape?