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Posted by: falcor75 Apr 28 2016, 11:51 AM

On my newly restored car I tried on my other wheels the other day and I noticed quite a bit of wiggle in the drivers side balljoint, the balljoints are new Lemforder ones bought from Pelican about a year and a half ago and I've only driven the car around the block twice so maybe a mile at the most.

https://youtu.be/1gPlFXrJoOQ

Here's a clip of the wiggle....not sure what would cause this on a new part?

Posted by: anderssj Apr 28 2016, 12:01 PM

Given that it's a new ball joint, the problem could be the bottom of the strut . . .

Is that an early pinch-bolt or later wedge-pin ball joint/strut? On my early car, the pinch-bolt on the strut wouldn't fully tighten on the shaft of the ball joint. Can't remember the fix--we may have ended up using a thin shim wrapped around ball joint shaft so the strut/pinch-bolt could get a better grip.

Hope this helps.

Steve A-

Posted by: r_towle Apr 28 2016, 12:45 PM

If it's early, many times the bottom of the strut gets oval where the ball joint fits in.

I gave up after two sets of strut tubes and upgraded to the later trust tubes, rotors, brakes etc....it's a whole package

Posted by: falcor75 Apr 28 2016, 12:55 PM

Yes the struts are '69 911 struts, with the pinch bolt.

Would really suck if they were toast

Posted by: 914fahrer Apr 28 2016, 12:56 PM

Hello,
I think this is an older Strut they have different ball joint s



for the newer this one




for the older strut is this ball joint.
The older one is secured with a normal M10 Bolt an not with the
special Bolt.


Ralf

Posted by: Mikey914 Apr 28 2016, 05:37 PM

Definitely a different manufacturer, at least different tool.

Posted by: ThePaintedMan Apr 28 2016, 05:46 PM

It's difficult to see what the actual problem is in the video. It does look like the strut is moving independently from the top of the ball joint. I'd highly doubt the ball joint itself is worn out. But I hate to tell you this, but you need to separate the ball joint and the strut so we can actually see what's going on. Rich's explanation of the 'ovaling' makes sense though.

Posted by: JamesM Apr 28 2016, 06:02 PM

It looks like the strut housing is not tight on the balljoint, I have had the same problem with the early ones as well. If the strut housing is starting to strip you will never be able to get the bolt tight enough to clamp on the ball joint. You could try to get a longer bolt and throw a nut on the back side of it in order to torque it down better. If that doesent work then the housing may be ovaled

Posted by: falcor75 Apr 28 2016, 10:36 PM

I woke up at 3 am with creeping suspicion, just checked back in my emails and I ordered the 914 '74 balljoints from Pelican (911.341.049.05) but I should have ordered the 901.349.049.04? Not sure if there's a difference since they look the same in the pictures.

Posted by: 914fahrer Apr 29 2016, 09:10 AM

Hello,
the correct Part number is 901-341-049-04 truh chassi number 4722919032 have
the cars the earlier strut.But I think the hole in your Strut is oval i would check this first.The only difference is the cut out for the bolt.


Ralf

Posted by: falcor75 Apr 29 2016, 09:49 AM

I have no idea what chassis number the struts are from but I've ordered as set of cheap -04 balljoints to test with. With any luck they'll work better. If the hole is ovaled then I'll just have to find a pair of better condition struts.

Posted by: falcor75 May 4 2016, 11:25 AM

New early type balljoints installed, wiggle completely gone.

Case closed.

Posted by: mepstein May 4 2016, 11:36 AM

Posted by: 914fahrer May 4 2016, 02:13 PM

Fine that this works.

Ralf