[martintanti]

Ciao all.

My name is Martin, im a Mech Eng and CNC Machinist from Australia. With a 2005 Gallardo.

I wanted to share the repair that I have just completed to my upper control arms.
The previous ball joint had 0.50 - 1.00 mm slop. The whole procedure needed to be pretty accurate. +/- .05 mm for a good fixture. My friend helped me with the removal of the front end, we did it on his hoist. We found that a lot of components were corroded. I would recommend a good soak of said components in WD40 prior to removal.
The solution was 100% successful

1 - The original ball joint swage cap was removed.
2 - Excess material docked flat on CNC mill
3 - The ball joint's Delren bush was shimmed. If the Bush is bust then a new bush will need to be machined
4 - M4x0.75 x 6 PCD were drilled and tapped into the control arm to house new billet fixture
5 - Billet fixture was manufactured on CNC
6 - Ball joint base cast mark was removed with Sillicon Carbide polisher
7 - Fitted with HT bolts

If anyone in Australia needs help with this repair I would be happy to assist.
Cheers,
Martin

 

[DXM31]

While I admire your engineering, I am not sure that putting steel screws in aluminum is a good idea because of the difference in heat expansion.

 

[EvanK]

Nice work man! Really silly that Lamborghini didn't design the ball joint to be easily removed/replaced until the later 07/08+ cars. Now you've got tight suspension and you know you'll be able to easily replace that ball joint for the life of the car if you ever need to do it again.

I wouldn't be concerned about the steel hardware into the aluminum control arm. In fact all of the taper joints for all of the front suspension ball joints are seated in steel inserts which are pressed into the aluminum spindle/hub. My only question is...where's your front axle?

 

[osti33]

Very nice repair. Thank you for sharing it.

 

[martintanti]

Nice work man! Really silly that Lamborghini didn't design the ball joint to be easily removed/replaced until the later 07/08+ cars. Now you've got tight suspension and you know you'll be able to easily replace that ball joint for the life of the car if you ever need to do it again.

I wouldn't be concerned about the steel hardware into the aluminum control arm. In fact all of the taper joints for all of the front suspension ball joints are seated in steel inserts which are pressed into the aluminum spindle/hub. My only question is...where's your front axle?

While I admire your engineering, I am not sure that putting steel screws in aluminum is a good idea because of the difference in heat expansion.

Hi DXM31,

This is not a issue. We have very minor negative load on the upper control arm. Also using correct loctite you can salvage any tolerance difference you may have.

Cheers,
Marti

 

[martintanti]

Very nice repair. Thank you for sharing it.

your welcome!

 

[martintanti]

Nice work man! Really silly that Lamborghini didn't design the ball joint to be easily removed/replaced until the later 07/08+ cars. Now you've got tight suspension and you know you'll be able to easily replace that ball joint for the life of the car if you ever need to do it again.

I wouldn't be concerned about the steel hardware into the aluminum control arm. In fact all of the taper joints for all of the front suspension ball joints are seated in steel inserts which are pressed into the aluminum spindle/hub. My only question is...where's your front axle?

Correct, its crazy that they didn't make them replaceable. But its a easy enough fix anyway. The difference that it made to the cars handling is really amazing.

Thank you!