Lemförder Ball Joint fasteners drilled incorrectly???!!!!

[iliketowalk]

Moderator note: Title edited to reflect thread content.

I have trouble believing that Lemförder would put their name on these, but the boxes look legit and they were bought from a reputable dealer which supplies many of the european mechanics and part houses in America.

Edit: In case it's not obvious, see picture 3. Those bolts should be straight up and down relative to the mounting surface.

Appears to be missing the trademark owl.

Have reached out to LF/ZF, not going to hold my breath...
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1986 Weekender "Birch"

[hans j]

Lots of OE parts are made in China now
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1986 Canadian Syncro Westy TDI - 1989 Syncro Single Cab - 2001 Audi S4 - 1981 VW Caddy ABA - 1980 VW Caddy EV - 1973 VW T-181

[iliketowalk]

I have no problem with quality parts made in China...

Did you catch picture 3? That's the problem. I could have drilled these things better blindfolded.
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1986 Weekender "Birch"

[dhaavers]

Welcome to the edge of the slippery slope...and the global economy...

<shrug>
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[iliketowalk]

This is funny - everyone thinks I'm bitching because they're made in China...

Noooo.

It's because they were threaded between 5-20 degrees off. Both joints.

If someone didn't know what they were doing, or care, you could install these and potentially bend your upper control arm, or risk the bolts breaking while driving and the wheel folding up. This is a serious manufacturing defect.

Take another look.

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1986 Weekender "Birch"

[xoo00oox]

Try running a business and needing to rely on parts today to be able to pay the bills. I have had to warranty so many jobs because of faulty parts, things like "good brand" water pumps and clutches that go bad in about a year or 10k mile. I do them over for free to keep the customer happy, nobody reimburses me for parts or labor.

[?Waldo?]

[Sodo]

[iliketowalk]

That is gold Andrew.

I was going to follow this flow chart.

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1986 Weekender "Birch"

[dhaavers]

I suggest if they WERE "counterfeit" the box WOULDN'T say China...


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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[bluebus86]

i recommend that you return them if you feel so strongly about safety. one more reason to bring manufacturing out of china, then we can bitch about usa made crap parts.
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[iliketowalk]

I can't believe how few people are actually grokking this post.

The bolts are threaded in on an angle, not a little one, a huge one. When you tighten these down to the upper control arm, only a very small fraction of the shoulder of the bolt is going to touch. We are not using a feeler gauge here, it's a huge effing gap.

So yeah - maybe I'll return them.

The post was more to demonstrate that even the good brand of parts is susceptible to unbelievably bad QC (on two parts), and that there is a chance that these may be counterfeit parts - so be on the lookout.
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1986 Weekender "Birch"

[iliketowalk]

Maybe this will make it more obvious?

The red lines should be parallel to the horizontal mounting surface.
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1986 Weekender "Birch"

[Vanagon Nut]

edited.

To my eye, the (compound?) angles of each set of
threads are not the same at each bolt; the upper faces appear to be at 2
different angles. But then that could be slop in the threads themselves.

When the UCA is torqued to this part, won't the bigger part of the issue be
the the ball socket of UBJ accommodates the incorrect angles determined
by bolt threads thus making the camber/castor/toe hard to set?
i.e. the arm and or flanges at the UBJ won't suffer any ill fate?
Or, will the load at these parts force the UCA to twist, cheese bolt to snap etc?

Neil.
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1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[andymcc1]

I just checked two of the same part I have here, purchased in June off US Ebay from 'Aircooled Treasury'.

Same defect.. They are still offering them for sale so be warned folks !

I did notice the plastic bag the joints were in, had a generic white label with the part number on it, wheras the fasteners were in a bag printed with ZF/Lemforder branding.

I wonder if an unscrupulous person has substituted some genuine ZF joints with cheap ones ?

It'd be interesting to hear from anyone with genuine joints still in the bag, if there's any branding on it.
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'90 252 EJ25
'90 246 AFN

Syncrosport
Volkswagen Transporter, reloaded.

[metropoj]

[quote="Andrew A. Libby"]

[AtlasShrugged]

There have been some counterfeit Lemforder parts being sold. Usual China crap boxed up and sold for a big profit.

Lemforder has a triangle with an owl in it..never saw one with an "L"

[alijonny]

When we speak about parts houses, are we speaking of Northside Imports?

Fake parts are a real problem, no joke. Your safety is on the line.


https://www.zf.com/brands/en_de/lemfoerder/technol...upport.jsp

PLEASE contact Lemforder directly.
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1965 Beetle
1990 Syncro Westfalia
1983 Westfalia

[Christopher Schimke]

This is why I stopped carrying the Lemforder UBJs. The build of the joint and ball assembly is fine, but way too many of them came to me with the holes drilled crooked like in the pictures. Mine came directly from a wholesale importer who gets them directly from Lemforder, so I am confident that the stock I received is not counterfeit.

The Lemforder LBJs are still made in Germany and have had zero quality control issues whatsoever.
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[bluebus86]