Help! Something doesn't look quite right...

[cheapthrillz]

Hey guys,

I have a question about the balljoints on my Galaxie. Since I had to ship my spindles to Tobin, impatient JC decided to use a BFH on the ball joints and messed up the threads. Sooooo I ordered new ball joints and installed them toady, but something doesn't look right.... On the upper ball joint, the dust boot doesn't reach the top of the knuckle.... is this a problem? Both of the top and bottom castle nuts are torqued to 90 ft-lbs. What's the deal?

The car is a 1965 Ford Galaxie 500. The upper ball joint is MasterPro K8212 and the lower is MasterPro K8059.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2010/02/100_3366-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2010/02/100_3369-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2010/02/100_3368-1.jpg

[Rod]

just looks like the wrong boot, change it out for a prothane boot there a little taller, the boot is only to keep the moisture out of the joint, but your right it looks funny

[GRNOVA]

I had to run spacers to get the cotter pin set into the castle nut.

[wedgehead]

I would never use a master pro ball joints again. we have used them in my shop before to save customers a few bucks and have had to replace them because they wear out much too soon. A couple of pairs in different chevy trucks only lasted about 15000 miles. we only use Moog now.

[cheapthrillz]

I would never use a master pro ball joints again. we have used them in my shop before to save customers a few bucks and have had to replace them because they wear out much too soon. A couple of pairs in different chevy trucks only lasted about 15000 miles. we only use Moog now.

It's just to get the car back on the road. I didn't want to spend $90 on two Moog ball joints that I will be replacing when I do my suspension.

[neki67]

Marcus (SC&C) supplies the tall BJ's with a piece of rubber (heater)hose/tube to fill the gap and to keep the cover in the right spot.

[cheapthrillz]

Marcus (SC&C) supplies the tall BJ's with a piece of rubber (heater)hose/tube to fill the gap and to keep the cover in the right spot.

Interesting thought.... I may have to call him and pick his brain over that one....


My first impression on this was, "Holy crap. I've got 90 ft-lbs on this castle nut, and it is still not even close to being seated."

Then it was, "Is this the correct balljoint?"

Now it is, "Why is the boot that they supplied not the right size?"


Also, another question.... when I removed the old, lower ball joint, there was a plate on the top side of the lower control arm. I boogered it up cutting out the rivets. Do I need to try to get another one? What is the purpose of it? Is it supposed to hold the lower boot on? Pictures that I have found of the Moog ball joints show that it comes with a new plate. The MasterPros did not. I might be able to salvage the old one. As it sits now, the LCA is retaining the boot (kinda). Any thoughts on this?

Thanks for everything so far guys!

[cheapthrillz]

Also, another question.... when I removed the old, lower ball joint, there was a plate on the top side of the lower control arm. I boogered it up cutting out the rivets. Do I need to try to get another one? What is the purpose of it? Is it supposed to hold the lower boot on? Pictures that I have found of the Moog ball joints show that it comes with a new plate. The MasterPros did not. I might be able to salvage the old one. As it sits now, the LCA is retaining the boot (kinda). Any thoughts on this?

On this thought, is there supposed to be a retainer on the top boot also?

[cheapthrillz]

Anybody got an answer for these last two questions?

[Bjkadron]

Anybody got an answer for these last two questions?

Do you have a picture of the plate? because I don't know what you are talking about.

And by retainer do you mean a wire clip or what?

And as long as the spindle doesn't slide on the balljoint you should be fine... Try bouncing the suspension a couple of times then checking for movement.

[cheapthrillz]

Do you have a picture of the plate? because I don't know what you are talking about.

And by retainer do you mean a wire clip or what?

And as long as the spindle doesn't slide on the balljoint you should be fine... Try bouncing the suspension a couple of times then checking for movement.

The plate is on the far right of this picture:
Lower Ball Joint:
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

I was thinking that the top would need a similar plate, but I don't remember removing one.....

I can't bounce the suspension because the entire car is on jack stands with no wheels. I did jack the lower control arm up until the car was off of the front driver's jack stand. That was when the pictures were taken.

Here is the Upper Ball Joint:
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
Seems that Moog doesn't offer a "retainer" for the upper boot, but the boot does look more substantial than the MasterPro boot shown in my pictures.....

[Bjkadron]

the plate holds the boot on.. so I'd try to put the old one on if possible.

And the boot is just there to seal stuff out of the joint. But if it is bugging you then you can just do a spacer out of rubber hose or something.

[John Wright]

Marcus (SC&C) supplies the tall BJ's with a piece of rubber (heater)hose/tube to fill the gap and to keep the cover in the right spot.


You can see this piece of rubber hose/tube in this pic of my Howe Tall ball joints...look just under the boot.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2010/02/MVC005F-1.jpg

[cheapthrillz]

Thanks for all of the replies so far.

I'm starting to wonder if the upper ball joint is too tall.... that would change the geometry of the driver's side a little bit.....

[Bjkadron]

Thanks for all of the replies so far.

I'm starting to wonder if the upper ball joint is too tall.... that would change the geometry of the driver's side a little bit.....

If it was it would change it for the better... but if your only doing one side then that wouldn't be good.

[cheapthrillz]

Ok, so I determined that the best course of action was to remove both of the cheap ass POS ball joints and replace them with Moog parts. That should solve most of my problems....

Moral of the story:

Don't buy MasterPro anything! Spend the extra money on good quality parts and save yourself the headaches!

We will see if this solves the problem.... Hopefully it will.

Thanks guys!

[Frank the Crank]

JC Scott - Nice Galaxie! I discovered something similar on the ball joints for my Cutlass. You can read about it here:

http://www.amberlightgarage.com/2008/03/parts-is-parts.html

[cheapthrillz]

The Moog balljoints fixed the problem. Thank you all for your help!