Best ball joints? troubles with new Lemforders

[skills@eurocarsplus]

whoever wants to send joints and arms I will test them.

Robbie, no lube needed. just thinking about you makes me moister than an oyster
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[jeb1978]

I took a closer look at the Nakatas I bought, the boxes say China. Guess I should have paid closer attention.

Has anyone purchased the Napa Premium (NCP 2601145) or the AC Delco (45D0000) joints from Rock Auto? The pictures in the online catalogs are identical, just that Napa is $62 and Rock Auto is $30.

I also noticed ads in the classifieds for torsion arm exchanges, one vendor states Meyle ball joints, the other Lemforders.
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1969 Westfalia 1600 Single Port

[SamboSamba22]

[stigma]

If anyone is still stuck and looking for quality balljoints I have a set of boxed NOS 1970's joints that I can sell. will upload some pics later.

[jeb1978]

I ended up buying a set of exchange torsion arms with Lemforder ball joints off of a vendor here on The Samba for my 1969 Westfalia.

The rebuilt torsion arms I installed in ~2005 had Febi ball joints and never did really loosen up.

The Lemforders were about a 50% improvement in steering effort immediately upon installation with no drive time, at least from my unscientific test of turning the steering wheel lock to lock.

Time will tell after this, I guess. I've put about ~300 miles on them so far and they feel about the same as initial installation.
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1969 Westfalia 1600 Single Port

[SamboSamba22]

Nakata ball joints from Brazil. Replaced all four on my 68 beam. They were quality units, and got the pass from me and my mentor, who’s been working on VW’s since ‘66.


Sam
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The Bus Barn Ltd. Co.

Oct. ’67 Double Cab (’68 Crew Cab)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44412.png]Click to view image[/URL]
March '69 Delivery (Panel Bus)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44414.png]Click to view image[/URL]

[nuked2001]

[SamboSamba22]

I purchased 4 Nakata’s off eBay for what I remember less than $60 shipped.
Received them, packaging had Brazil (and Portuguese) all over it.

They weren’t too stiff, had what my friend said was proper movement and had the correct spacing for the notches to line up in the trailing arm.

Been almost 2k miles, happy thus far.


Sam
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The Bus Barn Ltd. Co.

Oct. ’67 Double Cab (’68 Crew Cab)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44412.png]Click to view image[/URL]
March '69 Delivery (Panel Bus)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44414.png]Click to view image[/URL]

[SGKent]

[nuked2001]

[nuked2001]

I just picked up 3 Nakatas from Brazil from a vendor on here and one from ebay. Unfortunately, one of the 3 is not a Nakata and was some nasty no-brand joint.

That leaves me with 3 good Brazilian Nakatas and in search for 1 more. I know what a long shot question this is, but if anyone happens to have a single Brazilian Nakata I'd love to take it off your hands.

Thanks!
Kris
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'68 Bus "Snuffy"

[Ceckert64]

I'm looking for ball joints for my bus and two of my OG ball joints are complete garbage and have a 1/16 inch of up down movement in the socket. I may need 4 but I plan to do a lot of driving and want good ones. So it looks like of the ones tested, Nakatas are the best. Now a few I havent heard mention that I have found were Dorman on parts geek https://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/1972/volkswagen/transporter/suspension/ball_joint.html
Anyone try the ACDelco ball joints yet? It says they have a limited lifetime warranty so I would think that means they are good (?)
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=389587&cc=1441346&jsn=12
And I haven't heard Beck/Arnley mentioned and they have a 3 year 50,000 mile warranty
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=493307&cc=1441346&jsn=10
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1964 sunroof Beetle Restoration "Herbie"
“Joann” 1970 Elm Green Squareback
1972 Sierra Yellow Tin Top Westfalia Camper
“Fitz” 1971 Westfalia Poptop

[Mberglo]

We installed four no-name Rockauto balljoints, and haven't had a problem in 500 miles of driving. Make sure you index them when you install them. There is a notch that has to be aligned.

[trihartsfield]

[quote="skills@eurocarsplus"]

[metahacker]

has anyone tried this - supposedly awesome - ball joint supplier ? "RARE PARTS"
they have a bus ball joint of taiwanese origin ...


https://shop.rareparts.com/search?year=1978&make=VOLKSWAGEN&model=TRANSPORTER

https://www.amazon.com/Rare-Parts-RP10186-Ball-Joi...merReviews

Some of their custom stuff (e.g. the "dual load" ball joints for Jeeps) looks REALLY really nice
https://rareparts.com/dual-load-carrying-ball-joints

so I would assume their bus OE replacement stuff would be very nice

sure wish i had known about them before i plunked down for all those Lemforder China ball joints / Ocap Italy stuff from AutohausAZ ... no problems to report on my rebuild, bus drives GREAT .. but i have a better feeling about this Rare Parts stuff.

In my experience, the Taiwan parts > Chinese parts 10 out of 10 times.

i suspect this may be the 'solution' everyone has been searching for
i do also suspect that many people will be too stubbornly cheap to ante up though

I just wish they would put grease nipples on everything....

[Ceckert64]

Got some ball joints today, I ordered them from rock auto and they are AC Delco but reboxed and the actual brand is Ocap it seems good, I will do some test and add some more pics

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1964 sunroof Beetle Restoration "Herbie"
“Joann” 1970 Elm Green Squareback
1972 Sierra Yellow Tin Top Westfalia Camper
“Fitz” 1971 Westfalia Poptop

[metahacker]

Any idea where they are made? I got some Ocap tie rods for my most recent Bus front end rebuild...and they were made in italy. they seem fine. maybe better than my "EU" Meyles on the other bus ...

[raygreenwood]

[Abscate]

[quote="trihartsfield"]

[airschooled]

If you know, you know:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/382007130683
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