JR

How safe are the balljoint rebuild kits (SSI)? I don't have them on my car but am curious as to their strength in case I decide to use them. I do mostly autox but would like to do some DE in the near future. I'd hate to lose a balljoint in the middle of a high speed turn. Any info will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jay <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

Perry 951

Safer than OEM. The ***** are the same, but the races are brass, whereas the OEM ones are plastic.

When I replaced mine, the stock races came out in multiple peices. I talked to Sloan myself for about 20 minutes about my car, and about his ball joints. I asked the same as you. He has never had one fail on the track. Great, but mine is (was) a daily driver, or at least will be in the summer. I wondered the wear and tear of the daily grind, rather than the pressures of the track. He had several sets on street cars and never heard back from them. That is a good thing.

I am happy with the fit, finish, and overall sturdy quality. I hope they perform the way they look, and I am sure they will.

kelsean

I too had a similar conversation with Sloan and have my ball joints on the way -was hoping for them today, but maybe tomorrow. I still have to blast my control arms.

perry951 -obviously i got hold of Sloan, thnx for the info.

Luis de Prat

I must thank Perry951 for the tip on SSI's ball joint replacement kit, which I picked up while reading the extremely entertaining "Ill Fated Rebuild" site. <img src="graemlins/r.gif" border="0" alt="[king]" />

Until then, I was under the impression that professionally rebuilt arms ($$) or new ones ($$$)were the only options for post 85.5 944 cars. I remembered a post from a European lister who raced his 951 complaining that a year after replacing the arms on his car with FACTORY NEW, the ball joints were loosening again, and the SSI kit suddenly made sense.

When I called to order they explained that these BJs were originally fitted on Turbo Cup cars, and the aftermarket version was made by an outfit in Germany that went out of business. SSI acquired the rights to make them in the U.S.

I had them professionally installed in my S2 cabrio and the handling has improved dramatically.

Mike S.

Luis de Prat,

Fine point, but Sloan did not aquire the rights to make them. Rather he bought out all the remaining stock from his European source. Having the need for more, he then had his made using an original as a pattern. There are differances between the SSI balljoints and those that were on the Cup cars.

Mike

keith

Installatioin question:

I rebuilt both of my balljoints with the SSI kit yesterday. Neither of them had the dime-sized spacer mentioned in Danno's write up, and both of them had O-rings under the bottom plate. One of these O-rings was damaged beyond use. In addition, the springs were installed opposite in each arm.

It appeared to me that proper installation was to put the spacer ring against the bottom of the brass lower cup, followed by the spring, big end up. Is this correct? (I hope so at this point)

Perry 951

That is how I installed mine, and I did not have the small spacer either.

For the O ring, I went to Napa and matched them up. 10 cents each. Don't forget to JB weld the retaining clips. You don't want them coming out!

Danno

The JB-weld/epoxy over the circlip also serves to seal the bottom of the ball-joint as well. If you've put a zerk-fitting to inject grease into the balljoint, you want it to all flush out the top.

2+2

Do any of you know whether these kits work for 88 Turbo S and 89T with the M030 suspension upgrade?

keith

that's what I used 'em on...