fpena944

Got home today and wow did I have lots waiting for me at the door today!

I received the following:

- Some great 17" turbo twist rims/tires from fellow Rennlister 968TurboS
- Rennbay super deluxe ball joint rebuild kit (with a cool Rennlist lanyard and license plate surround!)
- 968 castor blocks

So needless to say I have my work cut out for me this weekend. The worst thing by far will be to remove that stupid little clip from the bottom of my control arms. Once that is done the rest should be pretty easy. Then of course I have to take the car in for alignment.

I was considering upgrading the shocks/springs immediately but will first perform this part of the "surgery" since my tires were starting to wear out too much.

I'll post pics of the end result once done!

aben8057

Nice..anyway you can document the ball joint rebuild kit? I will be performing this task soon, so any help would be appreicated or after your done....some lessons learned.

Techno Duck

Getting that clip out is a major pain in the ***, I used a cut off wheel on a dremel to essentially cut it in half. Made life alot easier.

75ohm

Let the fun begin! You WILL need a dremel... unless you are a sadist.

fpena944

Let me tell you guys my story...

You may have read this maybe 4 years ago but the first time I did my ball joints it took my 14 hours for ONE SIDE!!! I could not believe how long it took to perform that task. So needless to say I drove the car with only one control arm rebuilt for about a week.

The following week I was able to the other side in under two hours. So I improved dramatically! I'm hoping this time I can cut it down to a reasonable hour per side. But I'm already having nightmares about that little clip. Thankfully the kit I have includes a replacement so destroying it is an option. I don't have a dremel but with all of the work I am looking at doing to my car in the next few months it'll probably be a good idea to go get one.

Aben8057 - the instructions for the rebuild can be found at the following sites:

http://www.rennbay.com/info_pages.php?pages_id=13
http://www.clarks-garage.com/

I'll be glad to share any tips on what to do and what NOT to do. I consider myself a mechanical theorist. Which means I can tell you quite easily what to do but when it comes to doing it I'm not quite as gifted as many others on here

Travis - sflraver

Tip: Drill a small hole at an angle between the top of the criclp and the aluminum. Go just deep enough to give yourself clearance to put a pick behind the circlip. Tap the circlip around so that a good section is facing the clearance hole and pick the circlip out. About 10min to get it out that way. Thats how I do them.

Wade B

Spray the area with penetrant......let sit for a bit.....repeat........then do what Travis said, and then when it comes time to "tap the circlip around", keep tapping it and working it back and forth 'til it spins all around the bore with relative ease. Then when the time comes to pick or pry it out, it will come out very easily.

Upon reassembly, if your old ball joint (w/the ball itself) wasn't bad enough to have been nicked up or worn, use it against the new brass bushing and employ a C-clamp as a press to seat the bushing properly. Then use the same C-clamp to hold the whole assembly and the cap together against the spring pressure so you can get the circlip back in.

I just did this job a couple of months ago too..........first one was a good learning experience, second one was a breeze....and Travis' kit rocks......

nh7cy

You got a Rennlist license plate holder?? That would be my favorite part in the whole shipment..

Travis - sflraver

Brad: Hey, this guy put a note on his order that he is a Rennlist member. Does he get something extra?

Me: I duno.. find some stuff that says Rennlist on it and throw it in with his order.

Brad: Ok, will do.

nh7cy

good stuff

Spidey944

I'm gonna have to start putting Rennlist Member on my speeding tickets and see what I get.....

nh7cy

when you get your prison jumper it'll have porsche script on it

Mamooguy

Ho ho ho, merry Christmas and a happy wrenching!

black944 turbo

Good luck and post pics Fernando with the new rims and such. BTW, you may want to look into doing a lifetime alignment at Firestone, well worth it and a lot cheaper than one alignment at Eurowerks. I did that up here in Hendersonville and they have done my car one time for free already. Did a great job, especially since you will have to have it aligned again soon.

fpena944

Thanks for the tips everyone. I can't wait to get home this evening to begin work on this. I hope I can set a new record for ball joint replacement.

Travis - hooray for me! I'm a marketer so I know how important it is to track what advertising methods are working and which aren't. So I figured it would be important to let you all know where I heard about ya!

Richard - thanks for the suggestion! I just called them and their lifetime alignment is a sweet deal. And as you mentioned I'll need another once I replace the springs/shocks. Also nice is that they are open 7 days a week!