To All
I know Rick @ Sunbeam Specialties and Tiger Tom were wrestling with
manufacturing problems with the ball joints back in the mid 1990's. I
believe Rick and Tom were both running low on parts and they also had a
letter from original manufacturer, most likely the legal team, stating that
the lower ball joint was never designed for use on the Tiger, only the
lighter Alpine.
Generally all car parts are over designed to withstand abuse, called
safety factor, and therefore there should be no real reason why these parts
would not be safe to use on a Tiger. I believe Rick and Tom addressed all
these concerns and resolve them with Rick's current supplier.
If you are looking at parts with cracked boots; it is very possible
you have some NOS parts or other that are beyond their self life for the
boots; BEWARE. If you have a part that does not have a grease fitting;
BEWARE, you should remove the boot and check for rust, grease and function.
Basically it come to this; INSPECT YOUR PARTS BEFORE INSTALLATION.
There was a long stretch were manufactures were promoting the
"GREASED for LIFE", Maintenance Free, sealed parts that they had total
confidence. I have replaced many of these on modern cars and I'm sure you
have too. Lately I have not seen a ball joint or tie rod end that does not
have a grease fitting with the part. I'm going to assume that the
manufactures have changed there Warranty to move maintenance responsibility
back to the car owner.
Thanks to all for there input on this subject. We are dealing with
cars that were designed 50 years ago or more, some of the parts we find
could be over 40 years old. The word here is caution. You are dealing with
safety issues. Your safety, your family's safety and everyone's safety.
Use good judgment and be safe.
Ron Fraser
-----Original Message-----
From: tigers-bounces@autox.team.net [mailto:tigers-bounces@autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of CoolVT@aol.com
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 7:49 AM
To: michael.s.king@gmail.com
Cc: tigers@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Tigers] WARNING - ball joints
Michael,
This is definitely information worth having. Who knows where these parts
are being made. To me the distributors have some responsibility to check
what they are selling or at least to warm buyers that they need to be
greased. Apparently the rubber was "real" rubber. Not sure why anyone
would use
that any more. The modern plastics should be cheaper and would seemingly
last longer.
Mark
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