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On 8 Sep 2005 at 12:21, Matthew Jones wrote: > > > Earlier Jim said: > > > > > > Early ball joints, up thru '70, had a plastic > > > plug in the threaded end which > > > On 8 Aug 2005, I wrote: > > And the late ones do too. > At least, they do on the '72 beam I'm stripping ATM. > > > > > From: Jim Adney [mailto:jadney@vwtype3.org] > > > Hmmm, I thought they stopped in '71. > > Of course, I was wrong. I picked up some low mileage late spares > at the weekend and they didn't have the plug. I also got one with > a grease fitting already installed, which was nice. Off the top of my head, I'm not sure of when they stopped the plastic plugs, but I prefer those, so one can occasionally add some grease to them. The down side to the greasable ones is that people are prone to just install Zerk fitting permanently in them and then inflate the boots with grease on the theory that if some is good, more must be better. Unfortunately, too much grease leaves the boots unable to flex, and they burst. This has happened to all the ball joints on the few front axles I've come across which someone had put Zerks in all around. > The beam I took to bits came from a '72 but must have been > put on later, or had all the joints changed - all 4 have caps. Those with the caps are extra nice. You can take the caps out and reuse them, IF you remove them with care. Gently use a pair of pliers to "unscrew" them, even though they are just pressed in. Then press them back in by hand. Don't hammer them in or they'll be destroyed. > Is there a way to date the fixed part of a front beam ? It has > a few painted numbers on one shock tower. There is actually a stamped serial number in the (right?) shock tower, but I know of no place that lists those numbers with dates of use or manufactur. I don't know what the painted numbers might mean, unless they marked which body style the assembled beam was destined for, since there were 2 different sway bar diameters: one for squarebacks and one for the 3 lighter body styles. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~