New ball joints - pleasant surprise

[cdn97986]

The boots on the ball joints on my '75 were torn, so am replacing along with front bushings since they look original (riveted to the control arms). Some searching here showed many chose to not pay the $250-300 for the OEM BMW parts, but went with Meyle, Moog, Delphi, OCAP, etc as replacements with good success. I happened to come across some AC Delco Professional ones for sale on RockAuto, CARID, other vendors, and they looked identical to the BMW ones I removed from the pics online. For $60 shipped for a pair, I took a chance, and sure enough, they are the OEM TRW ones identical to the originals. Made in Germany, also have the castle nut / cotter pin set-up  versus nyloc nut that most others have. Just feel a little better with a physical pin keeping that nut in place in an area that won't see the light of day hopefully for many years to inspect. Basically OEM parts for 1/10 the cost of BMW. No affiliation, just passing along.

[Son of Marty]

I've never had any problem with trw stuff in any of my vehicles, good stuff.

[Mike Self]

Suggestion for your install:  After you torque up the castle nut and insert the cotter pin, and before you bolt the two halves of the housing back together, fill the space around the castle nut/cotter pin with wheel bearing grease.  Then the next time you have to take that apart, you won't be greeted with an unrecognizable mass of rust.  

 

And don't forget to use those "special" bolts to hold those two halves together--properly safety wired, of course.  And put a little anti-seize paste on the threads for the same reason as above.  You--or a future owner--will thank you in years to come.

 

mike

[cdn97986]

Thanks for the tips Mike. Again, lots of great info here, going to do the grease trick to keep the rust at bay in that cavity (mine was surprisingly free of rust / easy to remove for a PA / MD car), and have new "special" bolts and safety wire ready to go. Don't want any surprises when driving spiritedly! Looking at the set-up, is there a good way to get a torque wrench on those special bolts? Seems like it will be too tight when the ball joint / control arm are there. Don't want to bump / knick the boots on the new ball joints!

 

Craig

[tech71]

3 hours ago, Son of Marty said:

I've never had any problem with trw stuff in any of my vehicles, good stuff.

Me  neither

[JsnPpp]

Great tip, thanks for the post! I may buy a set just in case.

[Einspritz]

I put antiseize on the taper to make it easier to remove......

 

[Labphoto]

Why don’t they put Zerq grease fittings?

[jimk]

45 minutes ago, Labphoto said:

Why don’t they put Zerq grease fittings?

Stating with a current year car, go back to older years and name the last one found with greasable ball joints?

The last one that I remember was 1956.

At the rate these cars rust away, the sealed joints outlast the car in a normal use situation.

Edited June 4, 2021 by jimk

[Labphoto]

I had them on cars from the 70’s

[Son of Marty]

These lasted 46 years and who knows how many 100k miles with out zerks seems like they last with out grease. Just say'n.

[Labphoto]

https://www.suspension.com/blog/how-to-grease-ball-joints/

 

Bottom line, I would like a choice. It seams manufacturers cut corners, a Zerk fitting is a corner and additional expense for them.

Edited June 4, 2021 by Labphoto

[ray_]

5 hours ago, JsnPpp said:

Great tip, thanks for the post! I may buy a set just in case.

https://www.blunttech.com/shop/W0133-2106135-MOG

[modernbeat]

On 6/4/2021 at 4:39 PM, jimk said:

Stating with a current year car, go back to older years and name the last one found with greasable ball joints?

The last one that I remember was 1956.

At the rate these cars rust away, the sealed joints outlast the car in a normal use situation.

My 2006 Jeep Rubicon and both my 2WD 2003 GM Sierra and 4x4 2002 GM Sierra had greasable balljoints.

[jimk]

2 hours ago, modernbeat said:

My 2006 Jeep Rubicon and both my 2WD 2003 GM Sierra and 4x4 2002 GM Sierra had greasable balljoints.

Autos are in a different class, trucks.  Greasable joints wear out too.  My 4x4 GM full size pickup truck bought new and greased frequently, had drag link joints wear out.