Jchiodi

While starting on my upper ball joints I noticed lowers are shoot also. Shocks look a little worn out also. Steering rack boots are screwed as well! So I may as well do the whole damn thing and get it over with!

Is there any reliable supplier of these different parts with discount prices,lol...

Just checking if I'm missing something.. Seems lower BJ's will run somewhere north of 110.00 each, shocks for bogie 130.00 or so. BTW, the car is early 86, VIN ending in 0430.

I will try to just replace the steering rack boots. As far as I can tell it looks like they just died of old age, but the rack was replaced about 10K and 6 years ago and still has clean grease adhering to it.

I see some talk of upgrading from steel to aluminum or vice versa. What's the scoop on that?

thanks,
jc

Speedtoys

Roger:

See sig.

Dave928S

Just posted the answer to that in another thread ... here's the link to the post.

https://rennlist.com/forums/8576776-post36.html

Put the steel ones on ... you should be able to get good used. Edit: Your car being an 86 (just reread and saw that) should have the steel carriers and so you can just bolt on new replacements.

JPR928

Hello

This is an interesting post. On what years did Prosche deliver cars with the aluminum ball joints? Was it both lowers and uppers?

Regards,

JP

Dave928S

They're not actually an aluminium ball joint, but a carrier/housing (mounted to the lower suspension arm) which the steel ball joint is pressed into at one end, and with two oval openings for wheel alignment adjustment eccentrics. They were fitted from the start of production up until September 1983.

If the ball joint got loose in that housing it would very quickly hammer out the opening until it separated from the carrier. The way the early suspension was set up, when that happened the lower suspension arm would be forced down by the spring, and the wheel would fold out/collapse.

My 82 had that failure before I got it ... luckily at low speed. Unbelievably ... the so called Porsche 'expert' who did the repair replaced the failed one with a second hand replacement and left the other side ready to fail too. I've obviously replaced mine with steel.

Porsche acknowledged this as an issue and fitted the steel ones from September 1983 up until the change of suspension with the S4. There is a tech bulletin recommending replacement with the modified steel carriers. The details are shown in pages 40-20 to 40-21 of the WSM.

The suspension set up was changed with the S4 so this failure mode of ball joints being pulled out by spring pressure couldn't happen, with other changes along the way.

Edit: Upper ball joints are mounted into the alloy upper wishbone, but don't have the same problem because the spring isn't trying to pull this junction apart.