Okay I install the new Arms into the driver's side and I pumped grease into the zerks, the top boot ballooned but did not burst.

my tie rod end I plumped up last month...

I am afraid to rupture the new rubbers,

how much is too much???


the lowers don't ballon but does firm up a bit....

thanks for your comments

then you have more than enough.. ideally, the grease should push out from somewhere...

the grease that was in the NOS ball joints look like the cheapest ( translucent) stuff you can buy, the bottom one I took off, did not wear that much, it still protrudes a bit past the housing ( wear indicator), Delco is good stuff, it had 146k miles on it.

the boot was even intact, however the upper seemed a little sloppier and the boot was ripped, maybe that's why it was looser.

next side tomorrow....

can't wait to test drive it...

The grease in them is simply a delivery grease. That's why it is so thin.

Boot condition does not beget ball joint condition. I mean, the boot could have torn last week...

heck I pumped my stalube semi-synthetic in with the delivery grease, it that cool?

it was not that thin, just reminded my of high school in the 70's, that kind of grease... wheel bearing grease.....

yea, the idea is to replace the delivery grease, IIRC. It's been a while! You have me now wanting to check my ball joints!

that seems kind of insane, since the factory worker, grabs the A arm and bolts it on the car in the assembly line, I can't see how to remove the rubber boots, to get to the grease they are sealed.

I don't see how they are suppose to replace the grease with something more suitable, and at the end, they will be some residual grease left behind.

an the process is going to me messy as hell, grease everywhere

whatever, it is now a cocktail for grease in there, I bury my head in the sand on this one....

wanna bet the assembly is by machine?

They use a light grease that isn't flamable or something to avoid hazmat shipping issues... I donno.

robots put the C4 together? the rear lower bolt came out with some coaxing, but I flip flopped both of them, easier to tighten them with the nuts on the outside...


the grease is not light, it is heavy as any wheel grease and it filled the boot up, my pumping grease in them is just topping it off....

never said robots put the c4 together, but something like the ball joint install could have easily been automated on a line.

Don't you watch "How it's Made" on cable?

Simple answer is pump grease slowly and consistently until you see some coming out. If what's coming out is exceptionally dirty, pump a little more until it is clean.

i missed those episodes, but that Canadian production is cool, well it's all in,at first it felt kind of rubbery (the driving) now it feels like a new car,

new ball joints
steering rack rebuit
new rubber bushings with z51 stamped on the bottom of the control arm
wheel bearings no play
front 32 mm bar with poly bushings on the frame
didn't bother with the ones on the arm...yet..

I am pleased... the car sits 1 inch higher and I tighten the bolts with the cars weight on the spring, so the new bushings brought it back up to stock factory height.

4 wheel drive it is....

i just pumped them full of grease till they plumped....not oozing...

Don't touch the damned things!! They are fine! Drive it for a few weeks, then check them, but they are fine.

The front end will also settle in over time.

when to align, after they settle?

yea... drive it for a day or 2. Then the spring will settle back and you can get an alignment.

Otherwise, you will be wasting a good alignment.

If you need a good shop, here in Torrance is Johnson Alignment. Pricy, but VERY good.

aside from saving the tires, can a good alignment make the car "feel" sportier/better?

why would the spring stay up? that's weird...

wonder if I should rebuild my old control arms with polys and balljoints and put them back in and then sell the NOS item

or

maybe not, killed myself for 2 days crawling around the car not to mention doing the rears and shocks and bleeding the brakes... the crap never stops....

You can always put poly's in the old ones and swap them out for a comparison later. Or sell them

However, the spring will settle... it's the nature of the composite leaf; it just takes a few cycles to get everything to flatten back out. A few miles - hell, 100 miles - won't ruin the tires.

And yes, an alignment can make one hell of a change in how a car handles. I don't mess much with them on street cars, but when I raced RC cars, my GOD a minor change would make an epic effect. And yes, the same applies to street cars.