Ball Joints FAQ

[Brian_e]

[Lassebrun]

Hello
Dose anyone of you know where too find a tool as in the picture, to press out the ball joint through.

[heimlich]

[poundman]

[heimlich]

[poundman]

Anyone offering service to replacement ball joints, or selling arms with new ball joints already pressed? Thanks.
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Restoring a 1972 Bay Window Bus that has not be registered for the road since 1981.
Sugar Land, Texas

[onehappykombi]

[heimlich]

The logo looks familiar but it is missing something from it. Here is something similar I have that is re-boxed TRW.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2568138

[D/A/N]

Is anyone using these Rare Parts brand ball joints still happy with how they're performing?

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'70 Riviera. 1904cc w/ 40mm Dellortos, 019 distributor, Steve Tims “super stock” 37x32 heads, Web Cam 218, Vintage Speed SS143 Super Speed exhaust, 1 1/2” heater boxes

[surfbus23]

No stupid questions right. I did manage to get it rotated back properly, but not without some effort and separating a little fingernail from my nail bed. Couldn't find the slit and my problem was I was trying to move the bottom. That's were I got my nail. When I moved to gripping the the top between my fingers I was able to rotate it easier. In case that helps anyone in the future.

[borninabus]

try finding the split in the metal clip and rotate it back around to where it was.
should straighten out
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88 Van WBX, A/T - 13 JSW TDI 6M/T - 2012 Touareg TDI Sport

[surfbus23]

Quick question. I took my bus to get it aligned and the guy did a pretty nice job (it's hard just finding someone who is willing to do more than just a toe-in adjustment), but I just noticed he twisted up my ball join boot.

Is there a way to untwist this without affecting the adjustment?

To add to the discussion these are Nakata ball joints with 36k miles on them driving from the USA to the southern tip of South America. Rubber is still in great shape. Not sure how long this one will last all mangled however.

[wcfvw69]

[raygreenwood]

[airschooled]

[deezal]

I've had the delphi tc134 ball joints on for a year now and are working fine.

[ccpalmer]

Anyone have good luck with any brand of ball joints lately? I'm looking to do mine and am wondering what has been working well for people.

Thanks!
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'71 Westy

[Joey]

Stiff steering is not always ball joint related. The steering dampers sold these days are crazy stiff. Especially the Boge ones. To verify if the ball joints are too tight jack up the front of the bus and place it on jack stands and disconnect the tie rods from the spindles. If you try moving the spindle with the suspension hanging down it's going to seem stiff. Place a jack under the bottom ball joint and jack up the suspension until the bus just starts lifting off the jack stand. The spindle should now turn easily with no binding. Check the tie rod ends to make sure they aren't too stiff. I had a tie rod with really tight ends on my '65 bug that made the steering stiff and not return to center. Check the drag link as well. Grab it and twist it. It should move with some resistance. The steering box can be checked be removing the drag link from the steering box drop arm. It should move with no binding.
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Joey

‘60 Kombi - '74 Bus - '79 Panel - '65 Beetle

[jeb1978]

So on the "bench" test mentioned a few times in this thread about trying to turn the studs with the heads in a vice...

I purchased a set of 4 Nakata's based on various recommendations last month. All of them act the same in a vice, you can spin down the lock nut without turning the stud. I can't turn the studs by hand, but you can grab the flats with an 11 or 12 mm wrench and spin the studs with some effort (not a huge amount but it takes a full hand on the wrench, not just a finger).

Not sure what other folks experience with these parts are. I understand they are new and this method isn't very scientific.

The Febi (made in Germany) ball joints put on my bus in 2005 are still tight after 10k or so miles... the steering will not return to center after turning, you have to turn the wheel back to center. I'm tired of the notchy steering. I just drilled the tops, added grease zerks, and put 5-10 pumps of grease in each one today as a test to see if that helps any before I tear the front end apart further.

I have a 1968 bus I'm trying to get driveable... it has the original VW stamped ball joints with the threaded inserts. A good flushing with fresh grease has them where they move freely back and forth and rotating nicely. It definitely takes less effort to turn the front wheels lock to lock (when the front end is in the air) than the 1969.
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1969 Westfalia 1600 Single Port

[sodbuster]