Help!! - CAV Ball Joints

[Karl Wood]

Hi All,

I am struggling! I have CAV #53 and I bought new ball joints TC170. They looked good and I made the big mistake of throwing away the old ones (keeping a friend's shop clean of my crap). It turns out they are too small on the spline. The ones I need are 1.785". The TC170s are 1.7". I saw 1988 M3 listed on a forum post, no go too! I am really running out of ideas here. Any help gratefully received.

Thanks everyone,

Karl

 

[Ian Clark]

Hi Karl,

It's over the pond, maybe you can find it stateside.

FRONT BALL JOINT MOOG OP-BJ-0467 | eBay

Probably a good idea to have the seller verify the press in spline diameter (splines measure 45.4 on removed part). All available dimensions look right.

Cheers
Ian

 

[Karl Wood]

Thanks Ian. I have a bunch of emails out to get the size of the splines. Looks like I might have to purchase a set. I will keep you updated. It looks like these are the same as TC170, but.... The TC170s that I ordered showed TJ23F on the ball joint but TJ25F on the box oddly. I couldn't find any reference to those numbers. Maybe they put the wrong ones in the box?

 

[Ian Clark]

Hi Karl,

There are lots of "close but no cigar" ball joints out there. Wikipedia does not show any Opel or Vauxhaul cars (rear wheel drive platform) that use this ball joint imported to the states through GM, might explain the situation. Opel GT, a favorite car of mine, used the smaller ball joints...

I'm not sure if the European Moog part number is even listed on US parts or cross reference lists. It's nice to buy local but if there's none here the shipping isn't too bad coming from the UK or EU.

Cheers
Ian

 

[Karl Wood]

So these are what I ordered https://spareto.com/products/moog-ball-joint/op-bj-0467 They are just the same as the TC170 ball joints. I had to have some sleeves made due to the size difference. They have pushed in nicely. Now on with other things!

 

[Ian Clark]

Hi Karl,

Glad you found a work around... necessity is the mother of invention.

Cheers
Ian