Upper ball joint question?
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 3,424
Likes: 1
From: Tucson Az
St. Jude Contributor
Upper ball joint question?
This probably belongs in "tech/performance" but I haven't experienced much luck over there......
Does the rubber boot go on before installing to the cntrl arm, or after, like the lowers?
TIA.......
:steering:
Does the rubber boot go on before installing to the cntrl arm, or after, like the lowers?
TIA.......
:steering:
Drifting
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,432
Likes: 0
From: Southeastern Louisiana
St. Jude Donor '05
Re: Upper ball joint question? (edsalinas)
I just did mine 3 weeks ago and put the boots on before they went into the control arm. That's what the instructions said to do...
Good luck.
Good luck.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 3,424
Likes: 1
From: Tucson Az
St. Jude Contributor
Re: Upper ball joint question? (Blueyednd)
Well that seems to make sense because there's no metal ring inside the upper lip on the boot, as there is on the lower boots, to facilitate pressing the boot onto the ball after installing into the control arm. But I noticed that the top flange doesn't want to sit flush on the top surface of the cntr arm, did you use one of the washer/gasket pieces that came with the replacement ball joints? I bought AC Delco upper ball joints and in each box, in addition to the hardware req'd, were two different types of gaskets to go just under the mnt'g flange, they'd sit flush to the top surface of the cntr arm. The stock units had no such gasket..
:crazy: :crazy:
:crazy: :crazy:
Drifting
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,432
Likes: 0
From: Southeastern Louisiana
St. Jude Donor '05
Re: Upper ball joint question? (edsalinas)
Mine were MOOG and also came with a gasket for each side. The top flange is not perfectly level until torque is applied to all 4 bolts. I just put mine in loosely, then tightened each bolt a little, till it pulled the flange flush with the control arm.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 3,424
Likes: 1
From: Tucson Az
St. Jude Contributor
Re: Upper ball joint question? (Blueyednd)
ak ak ak ak ak (Joe Pesci from Lethal Weapon) I made a management decision here ak? The AC Delco replacement upper ball joints come with two different gaskets: 1) Is a paper thin worthless pos IMO; 2) is a metal stamping that has a recessed area around the hole you would think would make room 4 the rubber flange on the upper most edge of the boot, only problem is, the hole in the metal gasket isn't big enough to fit over the ball, so it too is worthless.....
So I just loaded the ball joint onto the cntr arm (rubber boot on) thru the top of the cntr arm, and smushed it down, albeit, one nut at a time, untill I felt that I had reached a point sufficient to say to myself , , , , ENOUGH ALL READY...
The flange is not perfectly flush with the cntr arm surface, but it's close enough for jazz........
ak........
[Modified by edsalinas, 5:06 PM 5/24/2003]
[Modified by edsalinas, 5:09 PM 5/24/2003]
So I just loaded the ball joint onto the cntr arm (rubber boot on) thru the top of the cntr arm, and smushed it down, albeit, one nut at a time, untill I felt that I had reached a point sufficient to say to myself , , , , ENOUGH ALL READY...
The flange is not perfectly flush with the cntr arm surface, but it's close enough for jazz........
ak........
[Modified by edsalinas, 5:06 PM 5/24/2003]
[Modified by edsalinas, 5:09 PM 5/24/2003]
