markdunlap

I purchased a set of after market tubular A arms from a reputable builder. These are for a 1980 Malibu. After running them I decided I needed to change to a stronger set of front springs. Of course when I seperated the lower balll joint from the spindle, the rubber boots covering the ball joints were damaged by the fork I used. No problem, go get new boots or even new ball joints at the local parts stores, and just use the boots, right? Well no luck. All the boots on the ball joints are 1/4" larger where they locate on the ball joint. MOOG K6145T is the part number.

So I call the A arm maker and he says I probably can't find the smaller boot. He says they buy them in batches and sometimes they get one size, sometimes the other. Same ball joint number, just 2 different size boots.

The size of the shoulder on the ball joint is 1.600" or 1.825" where the boot mounts.

I gave in and paid him for 2 new ball joints that will have the smaller boot on them supposedly.

Anybody ever run into this and have a better solution? I found some generic boots in the parts stores and all them are the larger size.