Ball joint in a VW New beetle

Grumman · 05-09-2006, 09:27 PM

Well I have a question more or less just for curiosity if anyone knows.

In the process of disassembling the cars front suspension to pull the drive shafts so that I can then remove the tranny and engine. I am taking out the tie rod (rack and pinion only a lower ball joint) and the ball joint on the driverside tie rod is well not what I would expect of one. its not "floppy" but it moves. is this normal

Because in the process of rebuilding the front end suspension of my car last fall 198,000K at the time and this car has just a hare over 118,000 K. the ball joints in my car were loose and had a little play but did not "flop" or really give when they were undone. no they were not "tight" like the new ones were but it seemed that they had less play than the ones on a car that had not quite under half the mileage.

So are all ball joints supposed to be "tight" like you cant move them or are some made to move while others arnt.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but this got me kinda wondering. thats all

PKariher · 05-10-2006, 08:10 AM

Depends on what you mean on loose. They should move but not rattle. Go to the parts store and look at a good one. This will give you idea if it broken or not. I replaced the ball joints on my old Honda Civic when replacing my axles once, it felt like a new car again.

Grumman · 05-10-2006, 03:21 PM

When I mean loose I mean I can hold the tie rod in one hand and with the other rather easily move the bolt stem portion sticking out. It doesnt rattle when shaked. Dunno, when the ones on my car (94 shadow) were replaced they were loose also but even with almost 200K on them they had less movement than these do. I thought that ball joints are supposed to be tight enough that you can just barely move them with your hand

Actually I'm not replacing them because the car is being stripped because of the crash it was in.

05-10-2006, 08:10 AM	#2
PKariher Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Durham, NC Posts: 0 Profile Gallery Classifieds My Jeeps	Depends on what you mean on loose. They should move but not rattle. Go to the parts store and look at a good one. This will give you idea if it broken or not. I replaced the ball joints on my old Honda Civic when replacing my axles once, it felt like a new car again.

05-10-2006, 03:21 PM	#3
Grumman Registered User Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 397 Profile Gallery Classifieds My Jeeps	When I mean loose I mean I can hold the tie rod in one hand and with the other rather easily move the bolt stem portion sticking out. It doesnt rattle when shaked. Dunno, when the ones on my car (94 shadow) were replaced they were loose also but even with almost 200K on them they had less movement than these do. I thought that ball joints are supposed to be tight enough that you can just barely move them with your hand Actually I'm not replacing them because the car is being stripped because of the crash it was in.