beerkat

I am in the process of installing the PFADT ball joints on my C5Z. I have one of them press into the control arm but not having any luck with the dust boot. PFADT does not send any kind of fastener for it. I tried a zip tie but there is no lip to keep it from sliding off. I am hoping that someone else has these ball joints who has a solution for it. Any help or ideas will be appreciated.

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froggy47

davidfarmer

does pressure from the upright simply pressure it into position???

Zenak

call pfadt and talk to Jordan, hes really good about getting back to you and helping with installs :-)

beerkat

I have email them and Josh Smith got right back to me. This is his response to the question on how to fasten the dust boot

"The dust boot supplied is mainly there to keep large debris out of the joint."



does pressure from the upright simply pressure it into position???

I have sort of look at that possibility. The bottom of the boot is a larger diameter than the ball joint. So when the ball joint moves the boot moves in such away that the ball joint is exposed.

ajg1915

Hey Beerkat,

I had ordered the lower ball joints from Pfadt and I know what you're saying.

The boot is like an umbrella and does not attach to the ball joint itself to seal it.

Personally, I sent mine back because they decided not to make the upper ball joints and I wanted parts from the same manufacturer (i.e. a complete system).

The boot itself is rather flimsy. Maybe you get a couple of plastic ties and use them to hold it in place.

I ended up going with Moog Joints from Rockauto.

beerkat

Thanks for the information. I am disappointed that they will not be doing the upper also. Like you I was hoping for a match set. Since I have already pressed one in I am not going to return the other one. It is a well made part maybe if they receive more interest in them they will do the upper. I think that part of the problem is that the C5s are just now getting to the point that people are thinking about replacing the ball joints on their cars.

ajg1915

That some C5's are at that point, however I talked to Aaron several times about the upper ball joints and he has no plans to ever make them.

The better approach is to use ball joints from rockauto (Moog / Spicer). The moog lower is very heavy duty and have grease fittings.

The boots are heavy duty too.

Zenak

I just did my ball joints. I went to rock auto. Pfadt is currentl.y selling only 1/2 of them so I would need to hit rock anyhow... I like th egreese fitings. Since I was drilling fittings into the control arms anyhow when putting in the pfadt bushings... i can greese them all with teh ball joints etc before each event.

davidfarmer

most people never need upper joints.......since they aren't in close contact to the rotors like the lowers, so I don't blame them for doing lowers only.

So moog has readily available, press-in replacement ball-joints now. Good news, as I usually just buy entire control arms on e8ay.

ajg1915

Yes you can get them for around $100 on rock auto and they are really solid pieces.

AlwaysInBoost

I have the moog units on my rear LCA's, very beefy parts and the grease fittings make life much easier.

Hazman

Looking on Rockauto and ther sites they only list the Moog K6537 for 2001 and older C5s!?!? What is up? Did the control arms or spindles change on the 2002 and up?

ajg1915

They are all the same. Same for the uppers.

beerkat

Well I keep playing around with the dust boot and finally came up with a partial solution. I found that it I turn the dust boot inside out that it fits better. I still can not get a zip tie or any other kind of clamp to hold the boot tight to the ball joint.

I sent PFADT an email saying they need to redesign the dust boot.

ajg1915

I never installed my Pfadt Ball joints, because I ended up going to rockauto so that I could buy similar parts.

Maybe get some double stick tape and wrap around ball joint, slide boot over and then use a heavy plastic tie.

The double stick tape would give you something on the inside to sinch down and hold the boot on to.

Jason

Punch hole in the top of a soup can, trim to fit around a-arm, cinch spindle down on top to hold can and boot in place. Effective heat shield and it should hold the dust boot down.

beerkat

Thanks ajg1915 for the idea. I have thought about that using tape to build out the housing and giving me something that will hold a zip tie. I guess I should try it. I have also thought about using a hi-temp silicon to seal the bottom of the boot.

beerkat

That is an interresting approach. Guy at NAPA had a similar thought on hodling down the boot. I look at it closer and see what I can come up with. Thanks for the thought.