curious to know where i should spend money first.
jim
Full Version: what is likely to break first
replace them both... seriously... talk about going all in on a bet, if either one fails badly...
plus once you are done... you will be glad,,, neither are very hard, but cursing will be involved.
plus once you are done... you will be glad,,, neither are very hard, but cursing will be involved.
QUOTE(jimkelly @ May 4 2010, 08:43 PM) 
curious to know where i should spend money first.
jim
What year?
Early, replace ball joint and bolt.
Later...tie rod.
Wiggle everything first...if its tight, leave it all alone and do something else.
Rich
... unless you're redoing everything anyway &/or it's a high mileage 914 with wear problems showing up on the tires, susp. noise, etc.
QUOTE(r_towle @ May 4 2010, 07:19 PM)
QUOTE(jimkelly @ May 4 2010, 08:43 PM)
curious to know where i should spend money first.
jim
What year?
Early, replace ball joint and bolt.
Later...tie rod.
Wiggle everything first...if its tight, leave it all alone and do something else.
Rich
Sound advice.if it ain't broke don't..........
you guys need pics - i think most of these parts on my car are 40 yrs old?
QUOTE(jimkelly @ May 5 2010, 07:20 PM)
you guys need pics - i think most of these parts on my car are 40 yrs old?
jack up the wheel and wiggle it...is it broken?
Its a tough thing to decide...you remove the ball joint and you will stress the tie rods just in doing the work...which will spawn a tie rod change.
I would save up and do both at the same time....and you will love turbo tie rods.
BTW...what happened to Hershey...I was looking forward to seeing you again.
Rich
ok, I'm looking at it this way... I had a ball joint break once... at 50mph... NOT FUN! (not in a 914 either)
true that the 914 ball joints and tie rods are not notoriously bad, BUT it's CHEAP insurance.
that's why I did it, eventhough mine looked pretty good(for 40 year old parts)
true that the 914 ball joints and tie rods are not notoriously bad, BUT it's CHEAP insurance.
that's why I did it, eventhough mine looked pretty good(for 40 year old parts)
pics
both tie-rod boots are DOA... the ball joints don't look as bad as mine did when I replaced them... but I would have replaced mine at the same time as the tie rods anyway... my tie rods looked slightly better than those, but I did all 4, plus front shocks in a leisurely afternoon... 
my philosophy is "if I don't like the way it looks, replace it... especially for 'cheap' parts" ball joints aren't REAL "cheap" in my books, but tie rods are for sure... if you don't do them at the same time, are you going to want to go back in there in a couple months or a year and do it again for the ball joints?
my philosophy is "if I don't like the way it looks, replace it... especially for 'cheap' parts" ball joints aren't REAL "cheap" in my books, but tie rods are for sure... if you don't do them at the same time, are you going to want to go back in there in a couple months or a year and do it again for the ball joints?
The specific answer to your question is that neither are likely to break. Ball joints wear out, tie rods rarely break. Spectacularly when they do though... If you are going to do it, you want to do both though.
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