Itinerant Air-Cooled

germansupplyscott wrote:yes, exactly. i had some of the ocap also but when i heard about this possible issue i removed them from the website.

Thank you. I'll be in touch

germansupplyscott wrote: most joints have some marking stamped on them.

Mine are Lemforder. . . . . . . . . .

Maybe you got the one bad outa 10,000...
No sense pissing yourself off forver, change those things out when you can afford it. Your bus should make you happy.
Hey a question, can one assume that if tie rods are shot then so are ball joints? Gotta do em' on the Beetle this spring, no sense doing a 1/2 assed job.

hambone wrote: Hey a question, can one assume that if tie rods are shot then so are ball joints?

Nope. Ball joints usually outlast tie rod ends for no better reason than that the boots last longer.
Colin

What if the boots are torn? I think they are...

My balljoints match the lemforder picture. This does bring back the memory of 1992 or so when I let a shop attempt the job. I drove about 2 miles and the suspension siezed. The shop said it was my gas shocks. Huh? Pulled shocks, still stuck. They "fixed" it, but I ended up later redoing myself. It seems possible that incorrect pressing may be responsible. I did alot of asking around before the last replacement. Good luck, and hope this helps.

hambone wrote:What if the boots are torn? I think they are...

I packed the rip with grease for 26 years. . . . kept the dirt out nicely. I am still sorry I changed out my ball joints. They worked fine.

bus71 wrote: I let a shop attempt the job. I drove about 2 miles and the suspension siezed. The shop said it was my gas shocks. Huh? Pulled shocks, still stuck.

Is there no respite from idiocy??????
Colin

Thanks Colin for your advice, I will pack away! Grease is cheap, OE German quality is but vapor these days...

hambone wrote:Thanks Colin for your advice, I will pack away! Grease is cheap, OE German quality is but vapor these days...

I have been doing the same thing on my driver's side joint for a cuppla years now and it is still happy happy.

Amskeptic wrote:

hambone wrote:What if the boots are torn? I think they are...

I packed the rip with grease for 26 years. . . . kept the dirt out nicely. I am still sorry I changed out my ball joints. They worked fine.

Is this the final word on the topic? I've got horribly ripped boots and nasty looking grease in there, but the steering seems fine. Hate to replace what isn't broken with something that might be not as good. Has anyone thought of a way to hack some kind of boot replacement? I have seen replacement CV boots that are split, and go around the joint like a kimono.

I would just wipe them clean as best you can and grease them often. We have done this with our bug for many years. Just recently replaced one balljoint that was loose. Given the issues with new ones, I would live with it as long as possible. Good luck!

How does one extract the ball joint from it's socket if it needs to be replaced?

On a bus you remove the torsion arm, then press the balljoint out with a very strong press. On our bug, we used a screw type press that removes the joint on the car.

So this isn't a roadside repair? One either brings in the pros or has the tools on hand.