Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 23:01:53 EST
Reply-To: Calwolfie@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Kevin Dawson <Calwolfie@AOL.COM>
Subject: Replacment Ball Joint and Tie Rod Boots
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Hi,
While I haven't gotten around to doing the boots on my Vanagon yet, I have
been susscessful in using polyeurathane boots made by Energy Suspension. If
the boots are torn or gone it doesn't take long to have anice grinding paste
of dirt and grease wearing away at your joints. They list them as only a tie
rod dust boot but I have found that they can work on ball joints. They make
four different dimensions so it is a point of measuring your ball joint and
then picking the right size. Polyurethane is great because it is impervious
to oil and ozone degradation. They are also cheap (about $4 per pair) and
easy to install. You can find them at better seed and off road shops. Use a
pickle fork (ball joint separator) to knock the joint apart, clean with brake
cleaner, pack with grease, and then slip the new boot on. I go one step
further by drilling and tapping a zerk (a grease nipple, the way they use to
make em') fitting into the top of the joint in question. The top is just
thin sheet metal. Use grease on the drill bit to pull up the drillings, go
slow, wipe clean. Use grease on tap to capture shavings. Use red locktight
on zerk fitting when threading in. Then use your grease gun to lube the
joint real good. You can use this on tie rod joints too. In fact it is easy
to get carried away and start installing grease nipples everywhere. There
are even cute little yellow nipple caps you can get for 10/$1 that make the
job look real clean and makes the zerks stand out when you want to do your
lube job and not overlook any.
Here are the boot size specs.
I I treaded end
I I
/ \
/ \ ___<--------Largest Dia. Taper =A
I I
__I I__ /<-------Dia. Top of socket = B
/ \____________
I ____________
\___________/
Dimension A Dimension B Part no.
.472" or 12mm 1.200" or 30.5mm 9-13103
.590" or 15mm 1.375" or 35mm 9-13101
.550" or 14mm 1.437" or 36.5mm 9-13105
.650" or 16.6mm 1.625" or 41.3mm 9-13119
Use the min. dimension on the large end. The material is elastic. If
needed, the small dimension can be drill larger.
Cheers,
Kevin Dawson
87' Wolfie camper
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