98 S70, N/A Control Arm (Ball Joint) installation question

[theWIFES_S70]

Hey all,
Hope everyone's ready to get to work on their weekend projects... (I'm up on Sunday...)

I have a question. I really should have posted this a year ago when I did this job. But I figured I'd done it right and never thought about it. Also, I don't think I knew about MVS when I did this job.

I did the whole front end of our car a year ago: Febi control arms, Meyle inner and outer tie rods, sway end links, and Gabriel readystruts. A few months ago, all new motor mounts (only missing the subframe mounts right now). And now, not even 6000 miles later, I have tires that are worn about an inch down on the inside of the wheel. I'm talking SERIOUS inner tire wear. The tires screech really badly and I'm going to take the car off the road on Sunday to get to the bottom of this. (Or at least tackle the subframe mount thing first.)

But here's the thing: both tires have worn down exactly the same. It's kind of odd to have both tires so evenly worn down, no?. Like I F'ed up somewhere, on both wheels, exactly the same way!

Here's my question. I remember installing the control arms. Getting everything in there without a problem. But I was confused about the ball joint attachment. I have uploaded this picture I found on the web. And will try to explain the question I have..

CV_boot_002.jpg (80.41 KiB) Viewed 2305 times

When you install the ball joint, it clicks into a groove (near #1), where the bolt goes through. But I noticed that there was play. You can shove the ball joint all the way up, bringing the 2 all the way up. Or, you can let it hang on the groove where the bolt is supposed to go through.

What is the correct manner of installation?

I think I torqued it down on the groove... Do you think that is the error that has led to this crappy alignment issue?

Thanks guys.

[Ozark Lee]

The pinch bolt passes through the groove on the ball joint shaft and it is a self aligning process as far as the ball joint is concerned. So long as the ball joint is in past the pinch bolt you really can't mess it up even if you tried.

Did you get a 4 wheel alignment after you did all of the front end work?

...Lee

[theWIFES_S70]

Lee, thanks for replying. So if I get what you're saying, it doesn't make a difference if you torque the bolt on the "bulge" of the ball joint (right after it passes the groove) or, if you shove the ball joint as far up as it goes, past the groove, and then torque the bolt? I'm sorry to ask such a dumb question. If it doesn't thunderstorm all day tomorrow, I'll take a picture of what I mean. (Maybe even film a really banal video of what I mean!) I find the evenness of wear on my tires odd, curious even...

I thought I got an alignment. (I paid for one...) My mechanic is a wrencher. I love him cause he's really helped me out sometimes. And doesn't give us too much grief when it comes to inspections. But he doesn't have any high tech alignment equipment so I'm guessing he eyeballed it... I'm going to go to an alignment shop after I change the subframe bushings and get this taken care of once and for all. I don't like the idea of ruining tires every 6000+ miles...

[RigsPGT]

Gabriel readystruts

How are the mounts on those or even the struts themselves?

[Ozark Lee]

If you shove the post off of the ball joint up past the groove the pinch bolt won't pass all the way through. I have noticed that with new control arms the grease boot on the joint tends to look lower than the one that was replaced but after a couple of hundred miles the boot makes its way to the bottom of the steering knuckle naturally. On the front end stuff for my Chevy the boots never fit right either until you grease the joint.

...Lee

[theWIFES_S70]

RigsPGT, the Gabriels are great! (Not really, they're so unforgiving... great on the highway, but take her down a NYC street full of potholes and you hear every bumpity-bump-bump! The springseats, springs and struts are in great shape.)

I need to show what I'm talking about in pictures. It was raining all day today... Forecast for the whole week is thunderstorms every single day...

Really saggy rear springs wouldn't cause any uneven tire wear, would they? (Those Readystruts really raised the front end of my car. Especially in comparison to the original springs in the rear.)

[theWIFES_S70]

Here are my ball joints...

I could've sworn that when I was tightening them down, I could've moved the ball joint further up into the sleeve.... I'll let it go. I guess this is not what's causing my uneven tire wear.

In case anyone was curious about really bad inner tie wear... It's so evenly spread out! After my subframe bushing are replaced, I'll get two new tires and an alignment at a different shop from my usual mechanic.

[Ozark Lee]

The ball joint connections to the steering knuckle look exactly correct.

Do you happen to have any camber numbers from the alignment? The camber isn't adjustable unless you buy camber kits which are eccentric bolts that bolt the strut itself to the steering knuckle. I wonder if the Gabriel struts have a different length when installed and it causes a camber problem. You can get a few 10ths of a degree of adjustment based on the slop in th bolt holes but if you need anything significant it takes the kits.

...Lee

[theWIFES_S70]

Might be... I never got a print out from my mechanic. I think he eyeballed it like you can do with any old Toyota or Nissan. The kind of alignment he shouldn't have charged me for...

We'll see what the tire/alignment shops says. That being said, I should measure the Gabriel ride height. The front end of our car is so high compared to the rear. (Been contemplating new rear springs, but to spend ANOTHER $100 on this car...sigh...) But that wouldn't cause this kind of camber issues, would it?

[abscate]

That's a toe out problem not a camber problem. An alignment will fix that. You can do this yourself but it's a real hassle compared to doing it on a lift.

Ball joint look fine, you are supposed to use new bolts on those each time, since the torque value is high