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On 1 Aug 2005 at 23:54, fess wrote: > I got the front raised enough to go get new tires. ditched the 135's in > front and 165s in back for 195/60's all the way around. Are these on stock rims? If so, I think even 195s would be too wide. I had a pair of 185s on stock rims in the early 70s, just on the rear, and IIRC they were at the limit of what Michelin deemed acceptable. > Should I just go ahead and replace all the ball joints? or is it > common that one is bad but the others still have plenty of life? There's no point in replacing parts that are still good; plus, the parts you're likely to find as replacements today are not likely to be of the same quality as the OE parts. Personally, I have never had to replace a ball joint. Check out the test in the Bentley manual. They show it using a VW special tool, but you can improvise. In the end, you're just measuring how much farther you can go before the ball joints run out of the ability to accommodate more wear. Study the Bentley text, look at the cross section of a ball joint, and I think you'll understand. I use a vernier caliper and a kind of clamp and it's pretty easy once I'm all set up. Note also that the aftermarket ball joints available today do NOT have the spring that allows them to accommodate any wear, so they will not test out the same as the originals, plus they won't last as long. Early ball joints, up thru '70, had a plastic plug in the threaded end which you could remove and temporarily install a Zerk fitting. If you find you have a bad boot on an OE ball joint that still measures good, I'd suggest removing the old boot, cleaning off the old grease, flushing fresh grease thru it, then replacing the boot with one from an aftermarket ball joint. I think this is likely to give you better service than just installing the new joint. Dave is exactly right, that ball joints only die if the boot is damaged. Or if you lower the car excessively, you can bend them just because you're asking them to move beyond their design limit. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~