[Amc-list] F('ing)ailing parts 1

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

So 2 yrs ago I rebuilt the Hornet suspension top to bottom,
obviously including upper ball joints. Well for the last year the
right side has been making horrible noises (clicking, grinding,
>bonk< over bumps, etc).  Both were identical parts, both get
greased often (I'm one of those grease-it-when-I'm-under-the-car
nuts) all other parts are *perfect*.

I bought a new one at NAPA and swapped it out (surprisingly
easy).  Drilled out the spot welds to take a look at the old one.

Heavy wear on the ball. The top socket half has four grooves
meant to carry grease down low. They were packed with a solid
carbon-like substance, presumably old grease. I mean I had to
chip this crap out with a screwdriver! It's probably been greased
4 times in 2 years (25K miles or so). I buy only top-quality
grease for the gun.

Weird.

So I install the NAPA part with no problems. I also bought
polyurethane balljoint boots, installed those. Installed
zerk, pointing conveniently, greased it -- grease squirts
out the sides of the ball joint! There's no gasket between
the two halves! (Even my bad part had a gasket to prevent
this.) Annoying!

So I jacked that side off the ground so the ball would drop
into the lower half off the ball socket (I hope) and greased
it with it jacked -- I hope this will make a gap on top of the
ball so that grease will fill the void.

I may grease ball joints this way in the future -- jack the car
such that the ball joints hang in their non-loaded position. I
know this shold not be necessary.

The other side is just fine. Car holds alignment well, and even
drove fine with the bad ball joint, though it definitely lost
a good 1/16" on one side.
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