Ball joint and Tie rod rubber boots FAQ

[SGKent]

To link to this thread copy and paste

[Wildthings]

Sometimes the replacement boots are pretty low quality and do not hold up well. I seems that most sources were having quality problems about two years ago. I bought some from West Coast Metric 5-ish five years ago and they have done well.

[itlives]

I'd just get the whole thing new from BusDepot- as a matter of fact, that's what I did!
http://www.busdepot.com/view.jsp?model=57&category=19&group=41&prodgroup=-1

[SGKent]

Hi Itlives. We did a quick measurment with a C clamp and the ball joints are showing .015 wear which is well between the .012 min to .080 max. I hate to go through all the hassle of sending the torsion arms off to have ball joints replaced when all they need is boots. I bought the tool that is used to manipulate the ball joints to inspect them so those clearances may change. I put a dial indicator on the spindle and then measured how much the freeplay changed. It was a consistent .015. That said we are not out of the woods yet. This bus does not look well kept up in many areas so when we pull the torsion arms to inspect them we may find them full of rust or the bushing and needles worn. I am thinking however that replacing the balljoint boots is the best solution so far.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[captincanuck]

Does anyone know if these BD boots hold up better than the CIP1 ones? Did all mine 2 months ago with the CIP1 ones and they are all split Any other recommendation for a better boot?
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1979 Westfalia "FireFly" Subaru 2.2 with Subaru gears 5spd.
Build Thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=634777&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[Wildthings]

[captincanuck]

[Wildthings]

I had found a potential source for tie rod and ball joint boots and had it bookmarked, but my computer dumped all my bookmarks a month or so back.

As for CV boots, I don't think any brand is good all the time. Been that way for as long as I can remember.

[Tcash]

Let's not get started on the CV Boots in this thread. I made the same mistake and then caught myself.
Please use
CV Boot Best Brand and Supplier FAQ
Thank you
Tcash

[Tcash]

[raygreenwood]

I think I Asked this a while back.

Does anyone have a measurment for the large diameter of the bus ball joint?

And.....does it snap over a groove?

I recently found a racing comlany that sells some boots that "might" fit the buw ball jlint. They have two different pattsrns and two different materials.

One pattern fit my 412 hall joints perfectly. The 412 has BIG ball joints. They may fit tje bus.

They have theae boots in Viton and Neoprene.

A lot of what is probably killing boots too fast.....is not just the material. I have said this before. You can find synthetic rubber like neoprene...commonly used in boots (basically similar to chlorinated neoprene)....which is great for ozone ....and damn good for oils....but a lot of these neoprene and similar rubber boots have issues with some of the oil bases in certain greases. Some of this may also have issues with the metals used in those greases which change the charge polarity and PH of the greases they are suspended in. Ray

[Wildthings]

The bus boots are significantly larger than 411/412 boots, maybe by a 1/2" in diameter or so

[Tcash]

[raygreenwood]

[69BahamaYellow]

I just installed 1 of these to replace a split boot.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-X-High-Quality-Rubber-Du...2749.l2649

The fit is pretty close to the Febi-Bilstein boot that it replaced, except that the inner hole is slightly bigger and the outer hole is slightly smaller. The new boot does not have as much pleated rubber as the old one, but it will still handle the full range of motion of the ball joint shaft. I recycled the retainer clips from my old boot for the new one.

One thing I like about this new boot is that the larger inner hole lets the boot rotate on the inner shaft when you turn the steering. The old boot would not rotate on the shaft so the whole thing would just twist whenever you turn the steering, which put a lot of stress on the boot. That's probably why it finally tore. There was no evidence of rubber cracking like you see on the Chinese boots.... Time will tell how well this boot I found on eBay holds up, but I've used the Bus Depot Chinese ones and they did not last a year before the rubber disintegrated.

[Tcash]

How to Measure Ball joint or Tie rod for Dust cover boots
http://www.suspension.com/universal-dust-boots.asp
https://vimeo.com/79823235

[Wildthings]

Here is a bus balljoint sitting next to a 411/412 balljoint, the bus boot is at 1/4" larger on the big end than the 411/412 boot and also quite a bit larger on the small end.

Here is an even smaller in size 411/412 balljoint. The boot is about 1/2" smaller on the big end than the bus boot.

411/412 ball joint

Bus ball joint:

The bus ball joint also articulates more in use than the 411/412 boots as the bus swing arms are much shorter than the arms on the 411/412.

[raygreenwood]

[69BahamaYellow]

[raygreenwood]