Control Arm Ball Joint Boots

#1

According to various sources, these ball joint boots are the right ones for us. 2 X UNIVERSAL Dust Boot Silicone 15 33 23 Track Rod End and Ball Joint Boots | eBay

I poked around the idea of generic boots a bit. I found a couple different ideas as to the right size, but folks also said that if the boot is a little small, just stretch it to fit.
OEM (maybe) 16mm small hole, 33mm big hole, 22mm tall
Couple dudes made these sizes work
15, 30, 23
11, 28, 26.5 (seemingly a fair amount smaller than OEM)

I also found a guy that said he installed the Energy Suspension 9.13101R boot set, but I couldn’t find any dimensions for that boot, nor does it appear to use circlips. So I’m not sure how it’s supposed to seal the grease in.

#2

Ranger, here’s the page with the Energy Suspension boot set. It looks like it might be close enough. Replacement Tie Rod Dust Boots - Polyurethane 9.13101 It’s 14mm dia, 34.5 dia, and 25.25 mm tall. It looks like they just use have a relatively thick neck so the grease has to push through a longer tunnel to get out. Not sure how well it’ll work, but it’s better than nothing I suppose.

I’ve made a royal mess of my steering arm boot trying to get it off to install the coil overs, so any advise on how to get them off without needing new boots next time would be greatly appreciated.

#3

I was able to get these apart using a separator like the one below. You have to go very slow and be careful, but its doable. Also got the ball joints loose without wrecking the boot, but that took me and my son, a prybar, and a 2 lb sledge.

#4

I use the same tool in your link. Mine came from harbor freight tho.

#5

MikeAtl and Ranger, Thanks! I need to get one of those. I got the first one off last night, but it looks like I may have bent the shaft between the threads and the bearing surface. Ah well, parts manufacturers gotta eat too, I suppose. :wink:

#6

Look hard at the part and consider if the bent shaft really matters. As long as the joint will fasten up securely, you might be ok. Ball joints will happily take on a bit of angle change so shaft doesn’t need to be perfectly straight. Heck, even a bent tie rod is ok if the bend isn’t too bad. One just has to adjust the tie rod(s) so that the wheels are straight again.

This is SpecE30. Shit is never going to be perfect. Trying to make stuff perfect isn’t money well spent.

#7

Good point. I’m a noob and probably need to be reminded of that occasionally. I think I’ll put ‘shit is never going to be perfect’ on a sticky note on the tool box. Thanks!

#8

Advance Auto here in ATL has a loaner tool program as well. I think they have a selection of ball joint tools. You buy the tool, use it, and return it for a full refund in something like 30 days. So long as you don’t wreck the tool, the use is free. And agree with Ranger, this is SpecE30, gutenuf is good.

#9

Thanks! I have a buddy who races Lemons cars who lent me a bunch of tools, but yes, I’m aware of the loaner tool programs. It turns out the steering ball joint was probably already bent, as was the strut, just enough to make removing the shock tube difficult. The other side came apart quite easily. I hit them a couple of times with a 3 lb hammer, expecting to just loosen them up a bit, and they fell right out.