Ball Joint Amazement

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vwlover77
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Ball Joint Amazement

Post by vwlover77 » Mon Nov 20, 2017 9:39 am

I replaced the passenger side ball joint boots this past weekend (fun! :flower: ). They were both torn, but the driver's side are just fine. Strange.

Anyway, I have a huge stack of repair receipts for the Bus across its entire 250,000+ mile history with no record of ball joint replacement.

I was shocked, and pleasantly surprised, to discover NO play whatsoever in either joint on the passenger side. I'm assuming the driver's side should be in similar condition.

Given all the horror stories about replacement joints, I'm very happy.

Did I just get lucky, were the joints replaced at some point, or is this typical?

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Don

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78 Westy
71 Super Beetle Convertible Autostick

"When we let our compassion go, we let go of whatever claim we have to the divine." - Bruce Springsteen

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Bleyseng
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Re: Ball Joint Amazement

Post by Bleyseng » Mon Nov 20, 2017 11:57 am

Looks like someone install grease fittings so that sure helps! Fresh grease and keeping the dirt out with sealed boots will make em last and last.
Geoff
77 Sage Green Westy- CS 2.0L-160,000 miles
70 Ghia vert, black, stock 1600SP,- 139,000 miles,
76 914 2.1L-Nepal Orange- 160,000+ miles
http://bleysengaway.blogspot.com/

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vwlover77
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Re: Ball Joint Amazement

Post by vwlover77 » Mon Nov 20, 2017 12:02 pm

That someone was me, but it was done only a few years / miles ago - small percentage of the total.
Don

---------------------------
78 Westy
71 Super Beetle Convertible Autostick

"When we let our compassion go, we let go of whatever claim we have to the divine." - Bruce Springsteen

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wcfvw69
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Re: Ball Joint Amazement

Post by wcfvw69 » Mon Nov 20, 2017 7:14 pm

When I replaced the original ball joints in my bus, I saw that they had a VW logo stamped on them at the top. Does your ball joints have the VW logo?

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1970 Westfalia bus. Stock 1776 dual port type 1 engine. Restored German Solex 34-3. Restored 205Q distributor, restored to factory appearance engine.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Ball Joint Amazement

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Apr 20, 2019 5:08 pm

wcfvw69 wrote:
Mon Nov 20, 2017 7:14 pm
When I replaced the original ball joints in my bus, I saw that they had a VW logo stamped on them at the top. Does your ball joints have the VW logo?


Not any more! I just bought four (4) ball joints for $47.00 off Ebay. Brand OE. The only after market brand that has a fully supported cup. FEBI and Meyle are dead to me. Ye olden days Lemforder are OK, but new Chinese ones, who knows yet? :

http://www.wagenswest.com/how_to/bus_va ... arison.php


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BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Mr Blotto
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Re: Ball Joint Amazement

Post by Mr Blotto » Mon May 06, 2019 6:44 pm

The dumbest thing I did to my Westy soon after I bought it was to replace the upper and lower (drivers and passenger) original 89k mile ball joints with Meyles, JUST BASED ON AGE. No other reason (no play that I could tell). The steering was never the same and the steering wheel would never come back to center after a turn. Lesson learned.
1978 Sage Green Westy - 2.0 FI - SOLD WITH 109887 miles :-(

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