so i was replacinfg my front lower ball joints on my -se. Drivers side went without a hitch, passenger side on the other hand, not so much.

I got the joint pressed into that lower arm and whenever i put the strut setup back on the force pops the ball joint out of the arm. HEres my questions

1: If i put it all back together, will setting it on the ground pull it back to where it needs to be from the weight of the car?

2: If not, are there any fixes you can think of that would work?

3: If not, do any of you have the passenger side arm that i need?

any and all help is useful, thanks a ton

 

Check out my "replacing ball joints" thread:

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/replacing-ball-joints-502398/

A lot of people recommend tack welding them in place. There is also a type of ball joint that has a clip to hold them in.

Rich

 

looks like ill be tacking them in

 

If the ball joint is that loose, the control arm has been stressed/bent. Safest course might be replacement of the arm.

 

I think he's referring to the ball joint being loose in the control arm around the base of the ball joint. If the old ball joint is pressed out, and the new one is the same diameter, it seems reasonable to expect the hole was enlarged slightly from pressing out the old and the new one would be loose. I don't think this would necessarily indicate a stressed or bent control arm.

Tacking it sounds good to me.

 

Mine went in tight enough that I didn't have any issues. But yeah, if the hole has become enlarged enough that the new joint is loose then the "correct" solution would be to replace the control arm. On the other hand, I don't see why a couple of small welds wouldn't get you rolling again...

Elwood and Big Jim: Will either of you be making it to the Holland meet this Saturday?

 

Sorry, I have to disagree with you on this. If the new joint is loose in the arm after being pressed in and fully seated, then arm must be replaced. Tacking may hold for a while, but eventually the tacks will fail. This is a steering/suspension component, there is no margin of error for safety.

If you haven't pressed ball joints in and out and watched the amount of distortion the lower arms undergo, you would be quite suprised. Safety first, that is paramount. If there is any doubt, replace it. It's simply not worth life/limb/lawsuit if there is any doubt.

 

Trochoid makes an excellent point. Maybe a weld would hold, but considering the consequences of a failure it's probably not worth taking the risk.

 

Safety has no price limit. In fact, safety should be the top priority, regardless of cost.
Like my father used to tell me years ago, don't put a $1,000 head, in a $5 Helmet.

 

Didn't know about it until now. What kind of event is it?

 

It was just a gathering at Maninblack's workshop. We ended up with over 20 nice cars, and had a nice BBQ. Got a little tuning and planning done, had a few street races, and plenty of drooling over the rides. Very nice time, too bad you weren't able to make it.

I'll probably put one together in Grand Rapids in the next month or so. We have our 1st race on the 28th of April, so maybe we'll have a Friday night camp out at my house for out of towners...

 

Put me on the list & send me more info. I'll PM you with my info.

 

You guys make me jealous. Wish we had a group like that around Tampa fl. I get to see another 7 owner once a month driving by on the road if I'm lucky. Only ever saw 1 other 1st gen. Sorry about the off topic post. Just felt I had to get that out

 

Same here... none of the RX7 owners in the St Louis area like anybody or want to have a technical get together. If you even mention something seems like there are always a few who bite your head off and tell you to bugger off or mock you. So decided to open my own club with 1 member, me

 

Come on up to Iowa for our meet! We've had one each of the last two years, and it looks like we'll have another one in May, maybe the 27th. Check out the "Hey Iowa" thread in the Midwest forum. It's not a big deal...we just get together and check out each other's cars, grill some meat, and chew the fat for a few hours.

Rich