Torque specs lower ball joint?
 

Failed annual inspection due to slop in left lower ball joint, so trying to replace it now. Halfway through the teardown, but wondering what the torque specs are when I reassemble. Anyone got 'em handy? Thanks!

119 ft lbs

http://rennlist.com/forums/attachments/928-forum/755090d1377268251-comprehensive-s4-bolt-lengths-and-torque-values-spreadsheet-928_s4_gt_gts_5-speed_bolt_sizes_and_torque_values_1-pager_05jan10.pdf

Thank you Andrew Olson

Now that's a useful piece of information! I'll be referring to that soon[emoji6]

Well then, here's another one for you:

http://rennlist.com/forums/attachments/928-forum/755089d1377268251-comprehensive-s4-bolt-lengths-and-torque-values-spreadsheet-928-s4-automatic-bolt-sizes-and-torque-values-1-pager-04-29-10.pdf

Again, Thank you to Andrew Olson.

For some reason my computer can't open that, I need torque of eccentric nuts Anybody?
(hardly worth starting another thread, sort of in the same area)

Thanks!

Now, how do I get a torque wrench on it though? :confused:

The spindle has a ridge/lip right above the nut (see picture). Also, what's the deal with the cap on the nut that's there now? I thought it was just some rubber/plastic cap but it appears to be metal. The new ball joint has a regular lock nut on it but I doubt I can squeeze a torque wrench in there...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438240207.jpg

You loosen the crown nut until it puts a bit of pressure on that lip above, then tap the spider (part the ball joint goes through with a hammer). It should pop right out and then you spin the crown nut off the rest of the way. Don't apply to much pressure on the crown nut, since it will damage the threads.

It is impossible to get a socket on the nut for installation. Granted you could use a line-wrench style crow’s foot. But I would not do this myself, since at that amount of torque...you run the risk of stripping the outer portion of crown nut. Me, I just used about the same amount of "hand torque" that was necessary to disassemble for reassembly.

Good luck,

Brian.

Thanks! Sounds easy enough. So far everything I've wrenched on has come off quite easily, so it seems like things have been carefully maintained over the years. Let's hope this one's just as simple. :) Should I pick up a pickle fork (separator tool) just in case?

cheers!

No, if you are not careful...you can/will mess up the lip that holds the ball-joints rubber boot. The lip is very fragile and will break away easily...leaving you nothing to attach the boot to.

One good wack, where the ball-joint passes through the spider (piece right below the crown nut and holds the spindle), should drop the it right out.

Brian.

Plexus, The spreadsheet is a .pdf file.

Well, I unscrewed the nut until it hit the little lip above (according to the service manual that I found online, the idea of the lip is to give you something to push against when unscrewing the nut), gave the spindle a whack (decisive but not too hard), then unscrewed the nut a little more and the thing just slid right out. :)

Now I see that I need to replace the eccentrics since the holes in the new ball joint are different. Off to the Porsche dealer I suppose!

Thanks for all the help, this is a very nice community!

Sorry to hijack your thread, but I just noticed you have "slightly wilder cams"any more details on that?

I wish I had more details!

The whole story is a bit too long to write down right now, but the car was purchased off a somewhat eccentric guy with a serious car and road racing hobby who sold off his entire and rather extensive collection due to terminal illness. He had the car sent to a local but now defunct speed shop (which according to the local car nuts did some stellar work while they were operating) with some instructions on what to make improve. This ended up being a fair bit of engine work (porting/polishing heads, more aggressive cams "ordered from the US", custom headers and exhaust), some suspension stuff (poly bushings, Koni red coilovers…), swapping wheels to some three piece Oz 18s and god knows what else. The only person who knows for sure what the hell went into it is no longer around, so it's basically a box of chocolates of a 928. :)

I did swing by the Porsche dealer a while ago with it, and the service manager knew of the car, saying it had "quite a lot of work done to it" but with no details.

Will be taking it in for a timing belt change next spring (one of the few things I won't attempt myself) so can ask the mechanic if he has any way to identify the cams.

This is what it sounds like at idle, though that probably doesn't help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPhqKVoSGGY

Sounds fairly normal to me, constant idle speed etc. All of the cams I've seen for the 928 have some kind of information number stamped into the flat back end of the cam. Most of the vendors though offered a variety of grinds from stock to track, so not much help on the which knowing the who.

Well, we shall see if my mechanic figures something out. :)

Turns out the eccentrics are as rare as hens' teeth here in Sweden and I was going to be stuck with a 10-14 day delivery time from Germany for one… until a guy tipped me off that there's a used parts dealer I could call and sure enough, he had one that he dropped in the mail today and is now heading to me. Should be able to get the thing back together monday.

What would be "neutral" adjustments for the eccentrics just to drive to inspection?

Not sure if you have assembled the ball joint or not, but I forgot to add a bit of information earlier. If you do decide to use a torque wrench with a crows-foot adapter, you must decrease the torque value slightly...since you are basically lengthing the torque wrench when adding the crows-foot. I don't have the equation for figuring out the amount of torque change in front of me...but someone mentioned the torque being 119 footpounds...me, if that is the correct torque value...I'd drop that to about 105, maybe 110 if l were to go this route. You could probably google the equation and find the exact information though.

Me, I just doubled up wrenches. Slip the correct sized boxend wrench over the crown nut and then slipped another boxend wrench over the first boxends wrench open end portion for extra leverage. But, don't get all crazy tightening it...a good snug push or pull (me, pushing works the best...since l don't like getting hit in the chops when the wrench slips off while pulling...lol) will do the trick.

I'm not sure about your neutral adjustments, but for "drive to the alignment shop purposes" I'd look at the old ball joints mounting-position-marks left on the housing and try to duplicate its measurement and position by that.

Good luck, with the rest of your repairs.

Brian.