So i went to replace the ball joints on the weekend, apart from the lower joints being a right PITA to get off the taper they seemed to all go together ok. However when i got the upper ball joints assembled there is a large gap between the rubber boot and the support arm. Has anyone else seen this before? My gut tells me its not good as i believe the boot is supposed to seal against the support, but someone else (sales guy) is telling me it seals against the spigot . . . which is a taper so never going to seal well as far as im concerned.
The nuts went on to the expected height and the split pins met up at the right points for the nuts and holes, the overall sizes appear to be the same or similar as the old OEM ones i removed. Just the gap has me a little concerned, its about 10mm or so.
No it doesnt slide down, thats as low as it sits. The OEM one has a pressed steel flange at the start of the taper which the OEM boot sits against, the aftermarket ones dont have this so sit back further.
I replaced just the ball joint, the complete arms over here are $250-300 each compared to the ball joint at $40-70 each. But i expected the boot to "accordion" as well, but it stays that height no matter what.
I have a feeling it's stuck on a lip and that you might need to maybe use both hand to squeeze the sides on the boot in order to open up the small hole and allow it to slip over the lip. From the pic, it's pretty clear it's squeezed up the pin. The alternative is remove the boot then re-attach it making sure it's spread out.
Possibly but i doubt it, the boots didnt go much bigger when i pulled them off to install the joint onto the arm. They are back at the suppliers at the moment, so will see what they say hopefully tomorrow.
what brand are they?
I once used Febest upper BJ, because they are cheap and couldn't justify buying the whole arm assembled from dealer! after one year the shank was easier to move (premature wear sign) and
rubber boot was torn apart.
now running CUSCO FUCA which is cheaper than OEM!!!!
So turned out the batch of parts were defective, the shafts were about 5mm longer than they should be and the rubber boots were too short. They have given me 2 different brands to put on from previous stock which look a bit better design. :/
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