New bad ball joints??

[TulsaSpider]

In April or May I installed all new ball joints from Bayless. I recently had some severe front end issues and decided to replace my bushings and I found a bent lower A arm as well. Good thing I have a parts car!. I tore everything apart tonight. I found that on the new bushings the rubber had already deteriorated and came apart. I wonder if there are replacement boots available? I hope that the joints themselves are still good!! (they are without grease zerts too...) I also found out that my frame rails need to be repaired. I saw someone repairing them on another thread. I don't have access to welders and such, this seems to be a fairly significant problem, perhaps my sudden alignment issue was related to this problem? Is there a temporary fix that anyone has come up with? what are the risks in driving it like this?
Thanks
Clark

[htchevyii]

Crap! That's bad news. I have the same issue with the upper ball joints I bought from Obert. I know boots can be had from Energy suspension and such, but since the balljoints are the sealed type with no grease zerks I think they wouldn't work properly, (wouldn't seal well enough).

[manoa matt]

Ball joints don't usually go bad from normal wear. The boot tears allowing grease to come out and dirt to go in leading to accelerated wear. Check the red "help" packages in the local auto parts stores, they usually have an assortment of ball joint boots. Or you might find a polyurethane boot in the performance parts.

ball joints, tire rod ends, and universal joints with grease fittings are weaker due to the hole drilled for the fitting and the cavity for the grease . They also have greater tolerances between the moving parts for the grease so there is already some play in the part.

When I encountered that frame rail problem I welded little angle clips from the crossmember to the frame rail to keep it there untill I had the time to do it properly. However every 3-4 days I'd have to come to a hard stop and the welds would snap, reweld it again and same thing.

Can't say for sure how long it will be safe. I apparently drove mine on a daily basis for almost 2 years before I fixed it. It must be fixed the right way. Once it was fixed it felt like a whole new car. Very solid and no strange creaks or groans.

read these threads: http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... c27d57983c

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... e72596a8f5

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... f903508269

[TulsaSpider]

I was talking with someone today who said that they had probably been on the shelf a long time. This makes sense and I know Bayless has been around a long long time.

[wengr]

any experience with ball joints or other front end components from Beck\Arnley? btw, I have also recieved rubber parts from bayless, time/temp hardened to the point of being useless.

[TulsaSpider]

Well the project is finished. The actual problem was the separation of the crossmember and frame. This caused the spring to keep the two apart about 1.5 inches, creating a dangerous situation in the alignment. With the suspension removed I drilled and tapped two holes and installed bolts. I also installed a big bolt in the middle hole so if need be I can open up the top of the frame and get some nuts on those bolts. I also got a bigger thicker washer for the crossbolt and cranked it down as tight as I could get it. I urge everyone to check that crossbolt and see if you can tighten it . I think this bolt gives a lot of support and if it is loose then I would think failure at that stresspoint would be much more likely. The car with new balljoints and bushings handles so much better and stops straight as an arrow!!! I am so happy with the results!

[racydave]

When I replaced my ball-joints, I installed grease fittings.