Genuine Longbridge Delphi Drop Links - 4 year warranty! 10 available

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by marinabrian

The very reason I've just replaced one of the droplinks on my ZT Mat

No play in the joint, but the rubber was split, damned shame too

Well I for one would take the risk - if my ZTT originals can last 97k miles before splitting then I’ll chance that a good few years are still in those originals waiting on my shelf.

Yes - I suspect storage will have effected the rubber but from my experience the only thing half decent from the pattern parts IS the rubber covers.

And as a competent diy’er - I would hazard a quess that if the bonded boots do fail there will be a way to cut them back and fit a replacement set.

I’ll post the results in the years to come - assuming it’s necessary

[DMGRS]

Originally Posted by Darcydog

Well I for one would take the risk - if my ZTT originals can last 97k miles before splitting then I’ll chance that a good few years are still in those originals waiting on my shelf.

Yes - I suspect storage will have effected the rubber but from my experience the only thing half decent from the pattern parts IS the rubber covers.

And as a competent diy’er - I would hazard a quess that if the bonded boots do fail there will be a way to cut them back and fit a replacement set.

I’ll post the results in the years to come - assuming it’s necessary

Do keep me updated, out of pure morbid curiousity...

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by DMGRS

Do keep me updated, out of pure morbid curiousity...

Will do - the ones on there at the moment are a set from you Matt where I added a 50/50 mix of a good quality grease with EP90. Easy job with a 2ml syringe.

So far they have been on since June and no knocking or bumping as yet. But I am doing less miles now.

[marinabrian]

Originally Posted by Darcydog

Will do - the ones on there at the moment are a set from you Matt where I added a 50/50 mix of a good quality grease with EP90. Easy job with a 2ml syringe.

So far they have been on since June and no knocking or bumping as yet. But I am doing less miles now.

Why add gear oil Clive

By the way, I would consider myself fairly competent when it comes to most things, but you will find an absence of any sort of groove on the original drop link body on the large end of the boot to be the main stumbling block.

So I should imagine the problems you would encounter in attempting to reboot these are as follows.

1 finding a suitably sized boot, of reasonable quality

2 cleaning the old boot off completely and then treating the metal prior to gluing the new boot to the drop link.

3 ensuring it doesn't simply part company in service.


Of course I would have done something to address the split boot on the ZT if I had thought for one minute that it would be successful, however if you wish, I will post you the one with the split boot to experiment with, there is no play in the joint

Brian

[Rp61973]

Yup, replaced both of mine a month ago due to perished boots, but no play in the joints. That said, the links are so cheap and only a 10 min. job to replace, it doesn't worry me if I do have to replace them every year.

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by marinabrian

Why add gear oil Clive

By the way, I would consider myself fairly competent when it comes to most things, but you will find an absence of any sort of groove on the original drop link body on the large end of the boot to be the main stumbling block.

So I should imagine the problems you would encounter in attempting to reboot these are as follows.

1 finding a suitably sized boot, of reasonable quality

2 cleaning the old boot off completely and then treating the metal prior to gluing the new boot to the drop link.

3 ensuring it doesn't simply part company in service.


Of course I would have done something to address the split boot on the ZT if I had thought for one minute that it would be successful, however if you wish, I will post you the one with the split boot to experiment with, there is no play in the joint

Brian

Yes - thanks for that Brian - I would like to do that. I will pm you my address.

As to why the 50/50 mix EP90/Grease - I used to do this on my Land Rover swivels where the original spec was EP90 alone and then they moved to a one shot mix that came in a large plastic sachet.

The swivels are exactly that - large recirculating balls that allow the wheels to turn and so need good lubrication. So not the movement your get in a gearbox but there is a requirement for low viscosity lubrication. Grease alone dried out over time and EP90 worked best but it would weep out and that started to cause problems at MOT time. Which was a shame because with early LR’s if it didn’t leak it was empty.

So hence the mix. And ever since then this has been my preferred mix even for things like trailer pistons etc. as the EP90 creeps everywhere.

The other consideration was the practical aspect of using a 2ml plastic syringe to get the stuff into and under the rubber cover. It was a piece of cake with the lower viscosity.

[Dawn]

I was going to buy a pair of these for Bones when Mat had them before but in the end the boot was the reason I didnt. Bones is 20 in the new year and her links were fine but the boots had just crumbled to pieces.

People keep telling me there is no need to do the ZTs belts next year with it only having 8k since the last but I am worried about the same thing. I know from experience that rubber in storage still ages.

Links might be worth the risk but not sure the belts are. Especially as I dont know what quality parts were used.

[Neil1]

Originally Posted by Dawn

I was going to buy a pair of these for Bones when Mat had them before but in the end the boot was the reason I didnt. Bones is 20 in the new year and her links were fine but the boots had just crumbled to pieces.

People keep telling me there is no need to do the ZTs belts next year with it only having 8k since the last but I am worried about the same thing. I know from experience that rubber in storage still ages.

Links might be worth the risk but not sure the belts are. Especially as I dont know what quality parts were used.

Belts are a different story, I wouldn't change them at 8K as there isn't a need but then depends on the quality of belts fitted.
Stick to the decent Brands such as the German Brands and there shouldn't be any issues.

[coab]

Dont forget the tensioners can seize and cause a perfect belt to snap. I had a ZT with 115k on the belts in 9 years and the previous owner never changed them as his garage didnt have the tools to do so. Needless to say the belts were all torn and thin and I had them changed just before one was about to go.

[Dawn]

I think looking at them the ZT is also on original links! That will be a dilemma as well should they go lol!