tires and wheels '02 ball joint height

[Guest Anonymous]

has anyone had a problem with clearance

between the control arm and the bottom of the strut

after installing the new type ball joints which now

only mount from the bottom of the control arm? i

have rebuilt the front end with all new parts and

now the car will not steer. part of the problem is

that the car is just a shell at this point and the front

suspension is completely unloaded putting the

control arms at a severe angle. i suppose that the

weight of the motor/trans ect. will change the

relationship of the control arm and steering arm

and there might be just enough clearance but it

doesn't seem correct that the wheels would not

steer if the car were on a lift i.e. unloaded as it is

now. my parts guy says that he has never had an

issue with these ball joints in 20 yrs. is there a

spacer or bushing inside the steering arm that i

don't know about?

[Guest Anonymous]

"the new type ball joints which now only mount from the bottom of the control arm?"

Are you sure it mnounts from under the control arm? I believe that it is your problem. Try to bolt it from tghe top, it will solve your problem...

[Guest Anonymous]

after discovering the problem the first time i took

the entire assembly off the car back to the shop

that did the work thinking that the ball joints were

not installed correctly. however they will only fit from

the bottom and the parts house confirms that they

are only meant to go in from the bottom. it seems

amazing to me that this has not been a major

problem in the past. they sent two replacement ball

joints (my cost) but they are exactly the same. i

read somewhere on this board about someone

'drawing" the joints down from the top into position.

i tried this and it seemed wildly dangerous as the

mating surfaces do not touch.

[Guest Anonymous]

Look at you old ball joints (assuming the're still laying around in the corner of the garage) and compare -just a rough casting on the new bits.

[Guest Anonymous]

thanks for the info.

it is a bit strange that you would have to do that

though, don't you think? i have someone who is

going to bring this up to the moog people anyway.

seems like a lot to ask grinding on a new part just

to drop in a ball joint. it's an '02 not a freakin'

bugatti or something.

[Guest Anonymous]

But in this case it is easy to remedy.

[Guest Anonymous]

thank's again

[Guest Anonymous]

this may or may not be news but i just discovered

that one of the four ball joint kits i now have in my

possession is machined and not cast. this one fits

like it should. no grindind required. i tried grindind

on one of the ball joints that are cast and i still don't

like the way it fits. the casting is beveled where it

meets the flange and will not seat all the way

down. all in all 3 of the 4 ball joints are diffrent even

though they have the same part no. stamped on

the bottom. i'm going to contact the parts place and

see if they can dig out another machined one. i

would suggest to anyone else to do the same. it

fits so much better.

[Guest Anonymous]

with. I went round and round with Bavarian with mine.

Sent me two different ones. Got a new front end sitting in boxes and the last thing I need is problems. Mine are TRW with TRW ground off with Moog

stamped over it.Go figure.

[Guest Anonymous]

(nt)