As the wether was good, it made an ideal time to get under the VW Early Bay camper and get the split track rod rubber boots sorted.
One of the advantages of it being a ‘stock’ van in terms of its ride height i.e.; its not lowered or slammed to the deck, is that it makes it so much easier to get underneath the van to access different areas!
I thought I would start at the front and do the steering drag link arm rubber boots first…
Underneath it was clear to see that although the rubber had not actually perished as such, they had split, so it was good to get them replaced!
The rear rubber boot was in worse condition than the first! So time to try out my new scissor action Draper Expert ball joint separator and get the steering drag link arm and the damaged rubber boots off…
I’m glad to say that buying the Draper expert ball joint scissor action splitter was a great investment! It was really easy to use and performed the job easily! You simply adjusted the two halves of the splitter to the required height or distance between them by rotating them around the main threaded bar, so that ideally they were parallel when in position.
You then slip the stepped and shaped forked end under the lower edge of the rubber boot and the lower arm support under the end of the track rod bolt. Once in position you simply tighten up the rear threaded rod of the ball joint splitter via the nut head until the track rod end joints splits or pops free (worth having something soft on the ground to catch it if it falls once the joint separates)
