ball joints

[Keith Park]

I just got my new ball joints in from ISP, the shaft seems to be locked solid in the joint, cant move it at all, even in a vice,

Alex says they come this way and to just install it, but am I even going to be able to get the shaft into the spindle if I cant

Move the shaft to line it up with the hole?

has anyone used one of these?  I think they are from Italy.

 

Keith

 

 

Topnotch Restorations

topn...@nycap.rr.com

http://www.topnotchresto.com

 

[Jim Adney]

I think it's normal for them to be extremely tight when they are new and been
stored, unmoved, for a long time. Still, I would expect to be able to move
them using a vise and a soft hammer. This should allow you to pre-align
them well enough to install them.

What brand are they?

On 20 Sep 2026 at 21:50, Keith Park wrote:

> I just got my new ball joints in from ISP, the shaft seems to be locked
> solid in the joint, cant move it at all, even in a vice,
>
> Alex says they come this way and to just install it, but am I even going to
> be able to get the shaft into the spindle if I cant
>
> Move the shaft to line it up with the hole?
>
> has anyone used one of these? I think they are from Italy.
>
>
>
> Keith
>
>
>
>
>
> Topnotch Restorations
>

> <mailto:topn...@nycap.rr.com> topn...@nycap.rr.com
>
> <http://www.topnotchresto.com/> http://www.topnotchresto.com
>
>
>
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>


--
*******************************
Jim Adney, jad...@vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*******************************

[John Jaranson]

I recently installed new ball joints from ISP in Sophy. They were also really tight when I got them, but mine were not the Italian ones. They were produced in Denmark, I think. I didn’t save the boxes so not sure what brand they were. The only odd thing about the ones I installed is that the lower ones did not have the notch in the bottom of the spindle to give you initial alignment. The shop I took it to to get aligned after install was able to get it all dialed in for me.

John

[Jim Adney]

On 21 Sep 2026 at 16:41, John Jaranson wrote:

> The only odd thing about the ones I installed is that the lower ones did not
> have the notch in the bottom of the spindle to give you initial alignment.

My impression is that modern replacements don't have the offset that the
originals had. Thus they can be installed in any direction. This lack of offset
means that the front suspension will now have a different caster angle. I
don't know if this increases or decreases the angle, but the outcome seems
to work fine, as long as BOTH sides are the same.

The alignment instructions from VW tell us to set the notch to the rear and
leave it there, but this was commonly ignored, so the modern replacements
mean that it's no longer possible to screw this up.

[Keith Park]

You lose wiggle room if you cant adjust the lowers, often there is too little caster and you can sometimes compensate a bit with the lower as long as the wheel doesn’t rub, but if you replace
An adjustable with a non your in for an alignment, sometimes that’s fine, others you need that extra bit...

Topnotch Restorations
topn...@nycap.rr.com
http://www.topnotchresto.com

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[Keith Park]

I think it was and O crap, I mean... O CAP.

Keith


Topnotch Restorations
topn...@nycap.rr.com
http://www.topnotchresto.com

-----Original Message-----
From: type...@googlegroups.com <type...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Jim Adney
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2026 9:17 AM
To: type...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [T3] ball joints

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/type3list/6AB12E43.20551.321B415%40jadney.vwtype3.org.

[Keith Park]

The O caps do have the notch, they were the better ones recommended by Alex.

Keith


Topnotch Restorations
topn...@nycap.rr.com
http://www.topnotchresto.com

-----Original Message-----
From: type...@googlegroups.com <type...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Jim Adney
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2026 6:09 PM
To: type...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [T3] ball joints

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[Jim Adney]

Is O-Cap a brand? If so, I've never heard of it, or at least I never noticed.
Where are they from? (What country?)

On 21 Sep 2026 at 20:36, Keith Park wrote:

> The O caps do have the notch, they were the better ones recommended by
> Alex.

[Stephen Unsworth]

Italian

ocap.it

Sent via BT Email App

From: Jim Adney
Sent: Sep 22, 2026 at 1:43 PM
To: type...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [T3] ball joints

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[Peppe]

Ocap Is the italian brand. Medium qualità, some years ago there was a serious problem of rubber Life, but the metal Is reasonably good. Better alternative are Meyle or Febi.

Ottieni BlueMail per cellulari

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