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Where to buy Monoball ?

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monoballs
43K views 280 replies 62 participants last post by  Dysfnctnl85 
#1 ·
I have been looking around and searching, I only see old post.

Dinan doesn't show e39 m5 monoball on their website.
Do they still make them? Can we still buy them, maybe old stock ?

If somebody knows about a group buy for monoball (Dinan or custom made), I would be interested.
 
#5 ·
Very nice! How many miles does this monoball lasts?
So the MHE kit with Lemforder arms is about $475.
If you buy the arms alone and let's say you want to use pwerflex bushings, it will cost around $375 give and take...

For a daily driver, how long does MHE monoball last?
 
#6 ·
They last until they don't, it's highly dependent on driving style. I've had mine for three years, almost 40K miles, and they're still like new. This includes a few track days.

The upside is you can rebuild them for about $50 in parts, so if/when they need repair, you're not out the full cost of the monoball.
 
#7 ·
Thank you... I was just looking at their site and their DIY guide on assembling one of these. I guess rebuilding it means you will need to press everything out of the cylinder shell and press them in again. Right now my front arms have no play in the ball joints at all but my thrust arm bushings aren't in good shape. I will need to find away to press out the bushings and press in the monoballs while the arm is still connected to the car on the ball joint side. One time I tried a loaner tool and didn't work for me...
 
#8 ·
You shouldn't have to press them out to rebuild them, my understanding is it's the ball and race that need to come out, but not the retaining sleeve. That's how it works on my monoballs, anyway. YMMV.

Why not just take the arm out and do it on a press? I mean, you should be able to do it with the arm in the car, but if it's being difficult, make it easy on yourself...
 
#9 ·
Right, those will need to come out... And I think the retaining sleeve or circular clip will stay there. I don't have a press at home... One day once I own a home then I'll buy this stuff :D what does YMMV mean? Btw, since the locking plate is screwed on, can you tighten it more when you start getting a little play in the monoball? Or they just need to be replaced?
Is nylon that much durable? Interesting...
 
#13 ·
These monoballs just came on the market this weekend...

BMW E60 Mono-Balls

I contacted this shop to see if I can rent their tool to use it to remove and press bushings but that tool works for E60 not E39... Then the reply mentioned their new monoballs. They are more expensive than Moosehead and I don't know what the major difference is other than looks like the ball joint seems pressed in as a whole unit inside the outer sleeve. Looking at it, it looks similar to the rear ball joint that goes on the rear wishbone in BMW... But probably allows more movements.

I wonder, how much movement does the stock rear ball joint allow? Is it possible to make a sleeve for it to go on the thrust arm? Those ball joints are very cheap...
 
#16 ·
GAS makes them for e60, too, those have been available for a while - I have those, they are excellent. e39 was not available from GAS when I bought from Moosehead.
 
#19 ·
I love my GAS man :thumbsup: balls




They have a tool you can rent or buy for installation without tension arm removal too....
I contacted them Friday and I got a reply from them saying that their tool will not work on E39!... The guy said he might make an adapter for the tool to be usable on E39... So I hope he does! Even though renting the tool will probably cost more than taking the arm off and go into a shop to press them out and press ball joints in, it is just convenient to do it at home because I don't have a second car right now :frown
 
#24 ·
I just discussed with Gary from GAS. He made a very good impression about the quality of "his monoball"... Not trying to play with words here.
As M5Quest said, they don't have the tool for the E39 as it is a bit different than E90 and E60. But any regular press with proper cups will do the job.

I still want to understand about the Syncro Design Works monoballs design. Unfortunately there is little info on it, only a facebook page. I will call the shop.

No way to go with the Moosehead, I want a sealed design. So far, I am down to 2 options :
- G.A.S
- Syncro Design Works
 
#28 ·
So I emailed GAS for a price on a complete set of arms with monoballs pressed in already... Here is what I heard back:

Lemforder arms set $575.
TRW arms set $449.
(Monoballs included and pressed already in each price)

Lemforder is better obviously? Anyway, it seems a bit steep... Autohausaz got Lemforder arms for $100 a piece and the monoball kit from GAS is $279. I'm under the impression that GAS will be able to get better pricing on the arms so why the extra charge? Shipping will never be $100... Are they charging for pressing the monoballs? They are already making money on the monoballs... I know this probably sounds cheeky but if the difference was $20-$30 that's totally fine... It's almost $100 difference... I think I'll end up buying the arms and the monoball kit separately and have someone do the press for some $$.
 
#29 · (Edited)
So I emailed GAS for a price on a complete set of arms with monoballs pressed in already... Here is what I heard back:

Lemforder arms set $575.
TRW arms set $449.
(Monoballs included and pressed already in each price)

Lemforder is better obviously? Anyway, it seems a bit steep... Autohausaz got Lemforder arms for $100 a piece and the monoball kit from GAS is $279. I'm under the impression that GAS will be able to get better pricing on the arms so why the extra charge? Shipping will never be $100... Are they charging for pressing the monoballs? They are already making money on the monoballs... I know this probably sounds cheeky but if the difference was $20-$30 that's totally fine... It's almost $100 difference... I think I'll end up buying the arms and the monoball kit separately and have someone do the press for some $$.
Basically we offer our Monoballs preinstalled into control arms for customers who don't want to mess with the installation themselves. We don't get any special pricing when we purchase them. We buy them online just like anyone else. We then have time prepping the control arm bores and installing the Monoballs. We mark the control arms up $20.00 each and charge $20.00 each to install the monoballs. I think that's quite fair. Because we are so busy here we actually prefer to sell the monoballs by themselves without the control arms. We just have that as an option for those who want it.
How hard and expensive is it to create an aluminum sleeve for that ball joint to slide in it so it can fit on the arm? We have many members here who own machine shops and maybe can give us an idea?
There is actually more to it than it seems. There are 21 separate CNC lathe operations and 6 separate CNC milling operations on the housings and end cap plus 6 CNC lathe operations on the stainless steel bushings. There is a .001" interference fit on the ball joint O.D. to housing I.D. dimension. To keep that press fit exactly where it needs to be, we hold a plus or minus .0002" tolerance on the housing bore I.D. dimension. The housing is a .0015" slip fit to the control arm bores which means another plus or minus .0002" tolerance on the housing O.D. dimension. You also have to factor in the growth of the housing bore O.D. when the ball joints are pressed in. There are also close tolerances that need to be held on the spiral-lock snap ring grooves. Then you have anodizing costs and since it's difficult to anodize items with deep threaded holes without the process chemicals getting trapped in the holes and causing color defects, we set up the CNC mill a second time and drill and tap the bolt holes after the housings are anodized.

I'm sure there are members on this board that paid up to $750.00 for Dinan monoballs and were happy with them. I'll put our precision machining, cosmetic appearance and overall design quality up against any other competing product on the market at any price. I hope this hasn't come across as defensive. I'm just trying address some questions and statements that were made in this thread.

Thanks, I'll be happy to answer any other questions anyone may have as long as it's OK with the moderators.

Gary

German Auto Solutions
 
#31 ·
Basically we offer our Monoballs preinstalled into control arms for customers who don't want to mess with the installation themselves. We don't get any special pricing when we purchase them. We buy them online just like anyone else. We then have time prepping the control arm bores and installing the Monoballs. We mark the control arms up $20.00 each and charge $20.00 each to install the monoballs. I think that's quite fair. Because we are so busy here we actually prefer to sell the monoballs by themselves without the control arms. We just have that as an option for those who want it.
There is actually more to it than it seems. There are 21 separate CNC lathe operations and 6 separate CNC milling operations on the housings and end cap plus 6 CNC lathe operations on the stainless steel bushings. There is a .001" inching interference fit on the ball joint O.D. to housing I.D. dimension. To keep that press fit exactly where it needs to be, we hold a plus or minus .0002" tolerance on the housing bore I.D. dimension. The housing is a .0015" slip fit to the control arm bores which means another plus or minus .0002" tolerance on the housing O.D. dimension. You also have to factor in the growth of the housing bore O.D. when the ball joints are pressed in. There are also close tolerances that need to be held on the spiral-lock snap ring grooves. Then you have anodizing costs and since it's difficult to anodize items with deep threaded holes without the process chemicals getting trapped in the holes and causing color defects, we set up the CNC mill a second time and drill and tap the bolt holes after the housings are anodized.

I'm sure there are members on this board that paid up to $750.00 for Dinan monoballs and were happy with them. I'll put our precision machining, cosmetic appearance and overall design quality up against any other competing product on the market at any price. I hope this hasn't come across as defensive. I'm just trying address some questions and statements that were made in this thread.

Thanks, I'll be happy to answer any other questions anyone may have as long as it's OK with the moderators.

Gary

German Auto Solutions

Thanks Gary! This is a thorough explanation. I wasn't aware of the involvement in making this stuff lol... It is quite complicated.
 
#32 ·
Group Buy Monoballs

In an effort to get our G.A.S. E39 Monoball kits in the hands of M5Board members so we can generate some forum reviews I would like to propose a special "Group Buy" offer.

I'll make it easy by not requiring a large number of purchasers.

Minimum of 7 E39 kits purchased earns a special Group Buy price of $209.00. Special Group Buy will include the titanium hardware upgrade. Regular price is $304.00.

Group Buy purchase can be made as one purchase of seven kits or can be 7 individual orders. If individual orders are placed none of the kits will ship until all 7 orders have been placed and paid for.

Let me know if you guys are interested and I'll work out the details.

Thanks,

Gary
 
#34 ·
In an effort to get our G.A.S. E39 Monoball kits in the hands of M5Board members so we can generate some forum reviews I would like to propose a special "Group Buy" offer.

I'll make it easy by not requiring a large number of purchasers.

Minimum of 7 E39 kits purchased earns a special Group Buy price of $209.00. Special Group Buy will include the titanium hardware upgrade. Regular price is $304.00.

Group Buy purchase can be made as one purchase of seven kits or can be 7 individual orders. If individual orders are placed none of the kits will ship until all 7 orders have been placed and paid for.

Let me know if you guys are interested and I'll work out the details.

Thanks,

Gary
I'll take a set.

--Peter
 
#38 · (Edited)
I will take a set!


Very excited!


Sergei B. (e39)<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
 
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