THE ANNALS OF DUNREA DE JOS UNIVERSITY OF GALAI

FASCICLE V, TECHNOLOGIES IN MACHINE BUILDING,

ISSN 1221- 4566, 2014

STUDY CONCERNING THE BALL JOINT FUNCTIONALITY

OF A VEHICLE STEERING SYSTEM
Nicuor BAROIU1, Maria DAVID1, Florin SUSAC1
1

Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, Department of Manufacturing Engineering

Nicusor.Baroiu@ugal.ro
ABSTRACT
The owners and users of a vehicle are concerned with reducing maintenance
and exploitation costs and also with extending the vehicle lifetime. It is known that
with increasing number of running hours, the vehicle performance are considerable
reduced, due to components and subassemblies wear, which are in relative
movement.
Keeping the vehicle in good running conditions, reducing the wear and
having very long operation periods of the vehicle steering system are determined, at
the same time, by operating conditions of the vehicles and components quality. The
ball joint is the most important component in this direction.
The aim of this study was to highlight the ball joint role and its role in good
functionality of vehicle steering system.

KEYWORDS: vehicle, steering system, ball joint testing.

1. INTRODUCTION

impurities inside bearings, the bearings, ball joints

and ball joint bushes wear occurs.

When manufacturing a vehicle, the steering

system together with steering swivels and ball joints
have a vital role. Their typology strongly depends on
front axle type: drive or back axle, single block axle,
rigid or pin ended etc. [1], [2], figure 1 and figure 2.

Fig. 2. Articulated front axle [2]

Fig. 1. Rigid front axle [1]

The swivel-ball joint bearing has a great
importance when focusing on steering system friction.
It is known that 50% of loses through friction are due
to this bearing, 35% due to friction inside the steering
case and 15% due to friction of spherical joints
[3,4,5].
When operating the vehicle, in ball joint-swivelwheel assembly, due to increased friction, due to

In order to prevent these disadvantages, it is

recommended to replace the lubricants from time to
time, replace the bearings and large bushes, replace
the damaged gaskets etc.
One of the most
stressed
component
part of the steering
system is the ball joint,
figure 3. This element,
as part of the vehicle
steering system, joints
the swivel and rod link
joint. The component
parts of the ball joint
are
the
mounting
Fig. 3. Ball joint [6]
bracket (1) - housing,

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ball pin (2) - element that reinforces the stiffeners on

swivel, springs (3) and dustcover (4) [6].
This paper presents important aspects related to
testing procedure of ball joints wear verification, after
driving a Dacia Logan vehicle for a certain number of
kilometers. The final goal is to identify any
shortcomings of the ball joint.
The tests were carried out within the workshops
of Belgian-Romanian company SC SIDEM SRL in
Suceava [7].

2. TESTS DESCRIPTION
Generally, the aim of the verification tests is to
analyze, by random check, the optimum functionality
level for some components which are manufacturing
in series.
For ball pin of ball joint type, the loads can be
divided in more classes: joints with load mainly on
radial direction, figure 4a, joints with load mainly on
axial direction, figure 4b, joints with loads both on
axial and radial directions, figure 4c [8].

a.
b.
c.
Fig. 4. Load direction on spherical joint [8]
where Fra is radial force and Fax - axial force.
In order to carry out the tests in good conditions,
some technical general conditions are imposed, the
most important are related to: testing loads, testing
temperature RT = (23 3)C, lubrication grade of the
joints (volume and quality), allowances (if are not
specified in the drawing, the allowances are,
according to DIN 4768/1990-05, Rz 10 m - for
spherical surfaces of the joint.
Table 1 presents the primarily parameters which
occurs when testing the ball joints vehicle.

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Radial

sra

mm

Axial

sax

mm

Radial

cmin,ra

kN / mm

Axial

cmin,ax

kN / mm

Tilting angle for pin joint

Elasticity
Minimum
stiffness

The most important tests for vehicle ball joint

are:
- Tests for verifying the joint mobility:
determination of rotation and tilting moments at static
and sliding friction, determination of radial and axial
deviation, determination of elasticity and minimum
radial and axial stiffness, determination of tilting
angle;
- Tests for determination of deformation
capacity determination of pulling and pushing
forces of spherical joint;
- Collision test;
- Bending test etc.
Determination of rotation and tilting moments
at sliding friction
At sliding friction, there are some preparation
steps of the test. After that, five cycles of rotation of
30 are made around pin axis. The fifth cycle is
recorded.
Depending on the measuring range of the
rotation moment and pin type of the ball joint, the
torque wrench, respectively the training device are
selected.
Three complete rotations are made around pin
axis, as much as possible. The torque wrench
indicator will show M dL value - primarily rotation
moment, figure 5. A second indicator will show the
value of M d - dynamic rotation moment ( M dL > M d ).
As large as the difference is, the M dL value will
be closer to real value. The rotation moment values ( M dL
and M d ), in Nm are compared with the values from
standards.

Table 1. Primarily parameters for ball joints testing

Tested element /
Test goal
Rotation
moment
Static
friction
Tilting
moment
Rotation
moment
Scovering
friction
Tilting
moment
Radial
Deviation
Axial

Symbol

Measurement
unit

M dL

Nm

M kL

Nm

Md

Nm

Mk

Nm

sra

mm

sax

mm

Fig. 5. Measurement of rotation moment using

torque wrench [7]

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Graphically, the friction moment vs. rotation

angle is approximated as it is described in figure 6
and defined as the distance between the two parallel
lines. This value must be between the allowances
specified in the drawing. The variation along the two
lines should not be larger than 0,6 Nm. The
moment/rotation angle curve should be recorded for
entire range. The range is 25.

Fig. 6. Determination of resistance to motion

moment [8]
Tilting moment should be recorded when is
reached a value over 80% of entire rotation range
(starting from position 0). The maximum and
minimum values should be inside the specified
allowances. At ball joint, the tilting angle is 0.
Determination of radial and axial deviation
Depending on the force direction, the deviation
will be identified. The deviation can be radial, figure
7, or axial, figure 8, sra or sax .

Table 2. Values of loadings

Ball pin
diameter [mm]
1921
2232

Force on radial
direction [N]
1000
3000

Force on axial
direction [N]
400
1000

Determination of pulling and pushing forces

These tests are used for determination of pulling
and pushing forces on ball pin. The tests are carried
out in conditions in which the ball joint is considered
mounted in its case. The testing speed, v AD/Z , is
approximately 100 [mm/min].
The following are defined: FAZ [kN] pulling
force, respectively FAD [kN] pushing force.
The quasi-static loads
are on spherical joint
surface
on
axial
direction of the sphere
center, figure 9. The
tests are carried out at
specified parameters:
T [C]; tightening
torque M A [Nm];
quasi-static
testing
v
speed,
= 100
Fig. 9. Pull test [8]
B
mm/min. So, the
minimum force Fmin [N] is determined, with no
permanent deformation. After that, The joint is
stressed until breaks, the value of breaking force,
FVers [N], being determined.
Ball pin bending test
In order to test the ball pin when a bending force
is applied, the spherical head is mounted in a rigid
support, which have inner dimensions similar to outer
dimension of the spherical joint. As an alternative, the
test can be directly carried out when the ball joint is
mounted in its track control arm. The quasi-static load
will be applied perpendicular on sphere axis, on axial
direction, figure 10.

Fig. 7. Determination of radial deviation [8]

Fig. 8. Determination of axial deviation [8]

The loading forces are chosen, according to
table 2, depending on the sphere diameter. The testing
speed is 500 [N/s].

Fig. 10. Ball pin bending test [8]

During test, a trajectory of pushing force, correlated
with the specific deformation due to force, is

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recorded. At pulling test, the pulling, respectively

pushing force are determined, in ball pin. The joint is
loaded until breaks, so the breaking force will be
determined. The first element which fails is the plastic
insertion of the joint. Then, at a certain value of the
pulling force, the pin exits from the case, figure 11.

Fig. 11. Pull test

The penetration test verifies the ball joint
strength. The ball joint is stressed by a compression
force until the ball joint cover breaks, figure 12.

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- Assembly the track control arm on rod by directs,

figure 15a;
- Assembly the rod and the directs, figure 15b.

Fig. 13a.

Fig. 13b.

Fig. 14a.

Fig. 14b.

Fig. 15a.

Fig. 15b.

Tests results and discussion

Testing the ball joint for cyclic-axial motion moment

Fig. 12. Push test

3. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS

The test for rotation moment consists in

verifying the ball joint at static and sliding friction.
The rotation moment test consisted in verifying the
ball joint by rotating it with 150 left, respectively 150
right, reaching in this manner a full rotation of 30 0,
figure 16.

The goal of this work was to verify a set of ball

joints, by testing for a several stresses. For the first
phase, the ball joints were tested before assembling,
than, were mounted on a Dacia Logan vehicle. After
driving the vehicle for 2500 kilometers, the ball joints
were tested in order to check the wear and
manufacturing defects.
Assembly and disassembly of the ball joints
The procedure for assembly and disassembly the
ball joints consisted in the following phases as listed
below:
- Lifting the vehicle on the elevator until the working
level is reached and disassembly the wheel, figure
13a;
- Disassembly the rod link joint which the ball joint is
mounted on by the vehicle chassis, figure 13b;
- Depressing the used ball joint from the rod link
joint, figure 14a;
- Assembly the new ball joint on the rod link joint,
figure 14b;

Fig. 16. Determination of resistance

to motion moment
Testing the ball joint for cyclic-axial motion
moment was carried out by pulling and compression
tests, with a certain force and verifying its
displacement, figure 17. In figures 1821, the values
recorded for moments M dL and M d when testing the
left and right tie rod ends before assembly and after
driving the 2500 km, are shown.

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Fig. 17. Axial and radial deviation test

Fig. 18. M dL and M d - new left tie rod end

Fig. 19. M dL and M d - left tie rod end, 2500 km

Fig. 20. M dL and M d - new right tie rod end

Fig. 21. M dL and M d - right tie rod end, 2500 km

Fig. 22. sax - new left ball joint

Fig. 23. sax - left ball joint, 2500 km

Fig. 24. sax - new right ball joint

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Fig. 25. sax - right ball joint, 2500 km

In figures 2225 the axial deviation values sax
for left and right ball joint, before assembly and after
driving the vehicle for 2500 km, are shown.

Fig. 29. Pull test, left ball joint

In figures 2629 the graphical representation for
pull-push tests of the ball joint are shown.

4. CONCLUSIONS

Fig. 26. Push test, right ball joint

The goal of this work was to test de behavior of

a set of ball joints, by specific tests, before assembly
on a Dacia Logan vehicle and after driving the car for
2500 km.
Considering that the requested value for a tie rod
end for rotation moment M dL is 8 Nm, respectively
for M d is 4 Nm, a decreasing of these values can be
seen after driving the vehicle for 2500 km.
At the same time, the axial deviation value sax
for a new ball joint is max. 0.3 mm. After driving the
vehicle for 2500 km, a decreasing of the axial
deviation value higher for right ball joint and an
increasing of the value for left ball joint, can be seen.
At pulling test, the right ball joint breaks at the
smallest value of the pulling force. Moreover, the
right ball joint breaks first at penetration test.

REFERENCES

Fig. 27. Push test, left ball joint

Fig. 28. Pull test, right ball joint

[1] *** SRDV Hydraulics,

http://www.srdvhydraulics.ro/caseta-directie.html;
[2] *** ZF Friedrichschafen AG,
http://www.zf.com/corporate/de/press/media_service/press_kits/201
3_uitp/uitp.html;
[3] Fril, Gh., Fril, M., Samoil, t., Automobile cunoatere, ntreinere i reparare, Editura Didactic i Pedagogic,
R.A., Bucureti, 1998;
[4] Alexandru, P. Dudi, F. Jula, A., Benche,V., Mecanismele
direciei autovehiculelor, Editura Tehnic, Bucureti, 1977;
[5] Boni, F., Introduction to Professional Wheel Alignment,
Enciclopedia Auto Tehnica, Fasep-Italia;
[6] *** www.balljointreplacementcost.com/steering-ball-joint/;
[7] *** SC Sidem Romania, http://www.sidem.be/; Internal
Working Procedures
[8] *** Fahrwerksgelenke. Anforderungen und prfungen, Porsche
AG Stuttgart, 2005;
[9] *** Grup Renault Romnia,
http://www.renault-technologie-roumanie.com/;
[10] *** BMW Group,
http://www.7-forum.com/news/2006/3er_cabrio/fahrwerk.php;