IRON MAIDEN

I have a 97' with roughly 87K miles on it.
Just had new tires mounted on the HRE wheels and will be having the car aligned once I get it all buttoned back up. I bit the bullet and decided to go ahead and freshen everything up before putting the wheels back on and having the alignment done. I also raised the car up some for a little bit more shock travel on the Pfadt Featherlites.
Have new rotors, pads, and Goodridge braided brake lines going on as well.

Here is what I ordered yesterday.

4x SKF X-Tracker race hubs. (F&R)
4x Moog K500134 Ball Joints (upper)
4x Moog K6537 Ball Joints (lower)
2x Moog ES2231RL Tie Rod Ends (front)
2x GM 88955488 Tie Rod Ends (rear)

Are these the right parts and am I missing anything? Sway bar end links are the newer metal ones and seem fine.
Will rent a ball joint tool from local parts store. Hopefully they go in fine.

As far as the Moog parts, do they come pre-greased? And how much grease do you pump into them? I installed them on a Dodge Ram and there is always grease around the joints. Makes a mess. Is it normal for them to leak the grease out?

IRON MAIDEN

Anyone else have an issue with the little ridge on the hub centric portion of the hubs? I test fitted my hub centric spacers on the SKF hubs and they won't slip over the ridge. Same goes for the wheels. I also thought the SKF hubs were made in the USA.
Not sure if I should open up the inside diameter of the spacers to fit over or just let them press on.

shubaca

I just got done with the same job including some poly bushings, but I came to find that the upper ball joints were a huge pain to press in. So I ended up just buying some new spindles instead. I don't know if Moog's ball joints come greased but I will say there were rumors they weren't actually made for the C5. It's suspected they are actually C4 ball joints. Here is a thread I would check out to hopefully answer some questions about this job. Good luck!

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...s-learned.html

SG Lou

I replaced my entire suspension a few yrs ago when i had 53k on the clock. I too used Moog parts but they had zerk fitting so they can be greased. ( BTW: I used same part numbers as well )

Now a word from experience....You're suppose to heat the area around ball joint and press them out. I used a paint remover heat gum set on high and cooked the surrounding area util it was hot to the touch. The ball joints can out nice and easy. I put the ball joints in a freezer for 24 hrs. The following day I warmed the parts to receive the ball joints until they were hot to the touch using a heat gun. Then using the press, I lubed the ball joint sleeve with a very thin coat of grease and carefully pressed in the ball joints. All of them went in dead nuts straight with no problem or any undo stress to the knuckles or control arms.
MAKE SURE THEY ARE PRESSING IN STRAIGHT AND TRUE. If they are the slightest bit off the will press in crooked and you can toss the knuckle or control arm in the trash and start all over with another one.

IRON MAIDEN

Thanks. I actually saw your posts in a couple other threads with the same advice. I was planning on the same technique. I did the same with my Dodge Ram a few years ago.

shubaka, how do you like the poly control arm bushing? Which ones did you get? The rubber in mine still looks and feels great so not gonna change them.

Hoping after all this, I finally have a car that rides nice. Not a single above parts seems bad in my car when inspected. Wheel hubs, ball joints, tie rods... all appear fine. I was unhappy with the stock Z51 springs, shocks, sways. Went to C6 Z51 sways and C6 Z06 shocks that so many do. Still was not happy. Then ditched the springs and shocks for Pfadt Featherlite coil overs. Yep, still unsatisfied. So, gonna swap all these parts so I know 100% all the suspension components are in new working order. Get my alignment and have them dial in my ride height. Gonna skip the 4 corner balance this time as it did nothing last time.
If it still rides bad after adjusting the coil overs, with sell them and go back to the factory Z51 springs and buy some adjustable shocks.
Sooner or later I will find the right combo! lol Not giving up on this Vette.

IRON MAIDEN

And to clear up the SKF hub issue I was pointing out above, I'm simply a dummy. I didn't think about the rotor going on too. Was just trying to lay the spacer on the hub. LOL.. I was at least smart enough to catch it on my own! Ha ha.

shubaca

I ended up grabbing some Prothane poly bushings from JEGS and I have no complaints. I didn't use the grease that came with them and instead used high pressure bearing grease. My stock rubber bushings were worn really bad so the ride is amazing in comparison.

IRON MAIDEN

Anyone know if the boots on the Moog ball joints are replaceable? LOL Struggled renting a ball joint press that worked. Had to rent two different kits to be able to do the job. In doing so, tore two of the boots on the new Moog uppers. The 1st two I installed went in but what I didn't realize was it was destroying the boots in the process. Made an adjustment with the tools and got the last two in. Getting them started in a pain! They really want to go in crooked. The tie wire that holds the boots in place seem to drag a little, enough to want to cockeye the joint as it is getting started. But with persistence, I got them in. I did one lower so far and it went in no problem. Will do the last 3 lowers today.
So, unless I can pull the boots on the two bad ones and install new boots, with have to press them out and install two new joints. Another $100.
The boots are not a totally sealed setup and I may try to clean, super glue, then some polyurethane sealant on them. And simply don't overload them with grease.
Thoughts? Either way, have two new joints on the way so worst case is I replace them. Will just keep the others as back ups and swap the boots if needed while swapping.

IRON MAIDEN

Wanted to update this thread. Car is buttoned back up and just waiting to get over for an alignment. I drove it a few miles just to make sure all was good. Even without an alignment, it drove fine. Still a rough ride but feels more solid. At least now I know 100% that all the parts are fine.

As far as the work, wasn't too bad. Had to rent two different ball joint tools to press them out and the new Moogs back in. The lowers were really easy with the control arms still in the car. The uppers were a bit tougher with the knuckles on the work bench/vice.
The 1st two uppers went in fine, or so I thought. I ended up tearing the boots on them. So rented a second press and was able to get the last two uppers without tearing the boots. As said before, I went ahead and ordered two more ball joints to replace them. That sucked! $$$ But, I have 8 fresh Moog joints in place and ready for a long life ahead.
Tie rods were simple, I spent more time measuring than installing to get them as close to the same alignment as what I pulled out. That way I can drive the car safely to an alignment shop and not eat up my new tires along the way!!!
The SKF X-Tracker hubs are awesome and so glad I ponied up and spent the money. I was sooo close to just getting cheapies so save the cash. Nice knowing what I have in place now! So much beefier than the factory ones and they have longer wheel studs already in them so it solved my issues with the thin spacers I use and the old studs being a bit too short.
Here are a few pics. Looking fresh for a 20 year old car. She deserved the love on her 20th Bday.

SG Lou

AWESOME

Proof positive that contrary to what is said about NOT being able to replace ball joints has again been proven wrong. I can't tell you how many times i heard " it can't be done, have to buy new parts from the dealer" when i was researching before I replaced mine !

IRON MAIDEN

Wasn't bad at all once I had the right adapters in play. The lowers were simple. The uppers were a little bit tougher as far as getting the joints to press in straight. Had I had a second set of hands..... would have been easy.
What I am worried about is the mess they might create. I installed Moogs on my Dodge Ram and the grease squeezed out everywhere. I may have pumped in too much grease though so plan to keep an eye out on these. I like to keep it sanitary in there.
I assume any grease that leaks out is just excess? So fill them up, drive it, them wipe/clean up the extra grease that squeezed out and I should be good?
How often do they need to be greased?
Car is a driver but I don't put tons of miles on my cars. I bought it in 09' with 27K miles. It has 82K now. But will share the daily miles with my truck and my Harley so I expect maybe 5-8K miles a year on the Vette.

SG Lou

Yes,that's excess that's being pushed out. I di the same , just wipe it clean. I check mine about once a year. Give it a pump or two on the old grease gun, wipe off the excess and it's good for another year.