Ball joint repair part

In combination with a ball joint having a plastic socket part, including a generally hemi-spherical socket cavity having an opening extending outward through one side of said socket part,

• a ball member seated in said cavity and including a shank extending from said ball member through said opening, said shank being substantially smaller in cross-section than the largest cross-section of said ball member,
• said socket part having a back and including a movable wall part defining part of said cavity and engaged with said ball member to retain said ball member in said cavity;
• the improvement comprising a sleeve of rigid material open at least at one end and having a flattened section extending from said one end toward the middle of said sleeve,
• means defining a slot extending lengthwise of said flattened section and terminating adjacent the middle of said sleeve, said slot opening into said one end of said sleeve,
• said slot being of greater width than said shank and of less width than said ball member,
• said sleeve being dimensioned to embrace substantially all of said socket part and said ball member seated in said cavity, and said shank being received in said slot to reinforce the retaining action of said socket part and to prevent release of said ball member from said cavity,
• and a retainer means extending transversely inward of said sleeve toward said closed end of said slot and being adjustable toward and away from said slot to engage with said back of said socket part,
• whereby said sleeve can be attached to the assembled ball joint by moving said sleeve lengthwise over said socket part, engaging said shank in said slot, and moving said retainer means against said back of said socket part to hold said sleeve on the assembled joint.