gnosis

Thanks Randy.

I've done further research and found that the 968 M030 arms (951.341.027.31 - I have to verify this by looking at my arms) are different to the standard ones (like your Cab, 944.341.027.02, I believe), but from what I can see on my arms I have the exact same type of balljoint assembly. So it looks like we're both out of luck!

I don't know if mine need to be replaced. I was just going to do it while I was rebuilding the rest of the suspension. I wonder if these different units are more sturdy and don't need replacement as much. Surely by the time they were making the 968 units they were aware that the balljoint was a weak point, especially when cars were lowered, as are the Row M030 cars.

Hopefully we won't have to replace them as often. If I find out anything of interest in this area I'll make sure I post it.

Clayton

Randy_J

Clayton, see my earlier posts - it is easy to check for play in the arms with a large channel lock plier and screwdriver. A service tech showed me how to do it and it is very simple and very obvious when the ball joint is bad.

My non M030 arms on the 968 Cab were fine - very very tight, in fact no play at all, so I suspect that Porsche finally got around to doing something a bit different in there to make the plastic last longer or just replace it with something better.

Keep us all advised!

MPD47

I have the rennbay ball joint kit too. It's awesome, feels great.

gnosis

Randy,

I saw your instructions in the earlier post, but I'm not quite clear on where you're clamping with the pliers and what this achieves before trying to pry the balljoint. I've had a technician friend use a tyre iron to test the joints about a year ago and he said they were fine, but all he did was wiggle the tyre iron around near the intersection of the spindle and arm. Any more details on your process would be appreciated, as I am planning on getting under the car this evening to have a look.

Clayton

adrial

FYI my 951S arm have p/n 951.341.150.10 for the left side and 951.341.149.10 for the right side.

PET shows 951.341.027.31 for left and 951.341.028.31 for right for 89 951.

What other control arm p/n's are floating around? What do people have on their regular 87-88 turbo's?

Red1

I bought Travis's kit, but through no fault of his I wasn't able to use it.

Having never done it before, I didn't know the two hours I spent digging out the "epoxy" on the bottom of the control arm should have served as some kind of warning. (I found out later it was JB Weld)

When I finally got the bottom plate out, I look inside the arm expecting to see a greasy pin. Nope. Another steel plate. WTF? I sent Travis a PM about it, and to his credit he knew what I had gotten myself into. At some point in time, my control arms were rebuilt by a shop that offers that service, and their method alters the arm.

It so happens there's a shop here in town that will rebuild control arms. I took it there, and they recognized their own work. They were able to rebuild it again using their method, but I'll never be able to use the Rennbay or SSI kits. I'm not very happy about it, but what are you going to do?

They advertise their rebuild service in Panorama magazine. I'm not comfortable slandering somebody in a public forum, but if anybody needs to know the name of the company (to avoid them), just PM me.

Throughout my whole ordeal, Travis was very responsive to my questions. I've bought the fuel injector seal kit, the power steering pump reseal kit, and the rack reseal kit from him, and his products are first-rate.

Skip

Clayton and Adrial, the cast part# in the arm does not equate to the actual part#, as is the case with many parts pre-assembled parts. The part# in the manual refers to a complete arm to include the ball-joint and front bushing.

You might want to contact the biz Brian refers to - their number is 713-661-2780. They rebuild the arms in a different manner and offer a 3-yr guarantee.

Good Luck!

gnosis

The part number in the arm isn't the part number for the unit? Jeez.

My arms have the following part numbers cast into them:

944.341.149.02
944.341.150.02

And they have what seems to be sealed balljoints (no circlip), and are thus not rebuildable with the current Rennbay or SSI kit.

If anyone knows where these arms fit in the chronology of all different arms, please tell me!

Clayton

Randy_J

Sorry I missed your post Clayton - the Tech guys used a large channel lock plier clamping between the bottom of the control arm and to the top of the ball joint nut to create a bit of pressure squeezing the assembly - then they used the tire iron / large flat blade screwdriver exactly in the intersection area you describe and moved it up and down to lever the joint. If the plastic ball cups or the alum ball joint is worn, there will be definite play over the allowable 1mm free play.

If you take apart the joint, you will find that you can compress the ball joint lower plate about 1mm free play. Anything more indicates that the plastic cups - either upper (usually the one that cracks), lower or both have cracked or broken up.

gnosis

Thanks Randy. I'll give your method a try soon.

I think my car must have sensed some preventative maintenance was scheduled. It's decided to start leaking oil like there's no tomorrow. There may have to be some leak fixing before I can tackle the suspension rebuild I was planning now, since pretty much everything under the engine and steering gear is now soaked with oil and ATF (yes, two leaks at once).

Once I get the leaks sorted I'll try your method of balljoint testing.

Clayton.

Skip

Clayton, check this link to the tech-session.com article regarding 944 control arms - while it does not refer to the cast-in part#'s, it does cover the majority of control chronology:

http://www.tech-session.com/kb/index...x_v2&id=19&c=4

Good Luck!