And when we got back I fitted the new drop arm ball joint.
I wanted to fit the joint without removing the drop arm and having heard some people have had trouble with this job I decided to splash out on the tool Paddocks sell for removing and refitting the upper seat.
£12.50+VAT seems quite a lot for what is essentially a nut, a bolt and three machined spacers but it does what it says on the tin, the spacers are exactly the right size rather than "nearly" which I guess could be the case using sockets and washers. The old seat came out easily and the new one went in OK but it did need a lot of force to get it in its correct position.
I used a bottle jack to compress the spring and the circlip popped in nicely. Probably the hardest part of the job was getting the larger of the two rubber boot retainers in place, why they can't use a garter spring as fitted to every other ball joint on the planet I don't know.
I've got a bathroom to plumb on Sunday (wages
) so I'll tackle the brakes on Monday.