Re: [Chrysler300] Spa Day for the Lady

["rob kern" <robkern@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Marv,
Thanks for the information.  The right front wheel looked a little weird at 
times when parked as if the top was tilted inward toward the inner fender 
with the wheels straight. The alignment came right into specs after they 
were replaced.  I have no idea how old the ball joints were since I did not 
replace them with the other front end components 3 years ago during phase 
one of the restoration process. I remember the fellow that performed the 
front end repairs and subsequent alignment felt the ball joints were showing 
wear but not needing to be replaced at the time. I'm just pleased that the 
vehicle drives as well as it does now.  ROB
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <mjraguse@xxxxxxx>
To: <robkern@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2006 5:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] Spa Day for the Lady


> In a message dated 11/5/2006 12:30:32 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> robkern@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> The upper and lower ball joints were diagnosed as the problem being quite
> loose.
> Having some familiarity with this type of a diagnosis I am usually 
> skeptical.
> Not saying that in this particular case they weren't bad but there is more 
> to
> the story.
>
> Chrysler uses compression ball joints which are vastly superior and safer 
> to
> competitive tension ball joints. The problem usually results in alignment
> shops not realizing that with the load off of the front end they can 
> appear quite
> loose when in reality they are still just fine.  We had some classic 
> stories
> in the suspension lab at Chrysler.  Almost 40 years ago our chief engineer 
> for
> Chassis was on a trip and he went into a tire and alignment shop somewhere 
> out
> west. I think he only wanted something minor fixed or checked and he was 
> told
> his ball joints were shot. He acted ignorant to have the mechanic 
> demonstrate
> the looseness.  He then proceeded to identify himself and proceed to rip 
> into
> the mechanic for either ignorance or lack of ethics and then lecture the
> mechanic on ball joint robustness.  We had a good laugh on that.
>
> When I was but a lad I remember my father attempting to get his 58 
> Chrysler
> aligned at a Firestone tire store in 1960 only to be told it could not be
> aligned due to bad ball joints. "Get it down" my dad told him and he went 
> to the
> Chrysler dealer and had it aligned properly.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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