Lower Ball Joint (Heavy-Duty Adjustable) [Bus/Vanagon]

GoWesty Heavy Duty Lower Ball Joint (LBJ) for all Bus & Vanagon. All-steel construction, fully adjustable and greaseable. These will be the last lower ball joints you will ever have to purchase!

Features:
• Bombproof All-Steel Construction
• No-Clunk Micro-Adjustable
• Low-Profile Grease Fitting with Protective DuroGreen Dust Cap (FKM Viton)
• Heavy-Duty DuroGreen Grease Boot (HNBR)
• Lifetime Warranty - See "Warranty" tab for info

Fits:
• 1968-79 Bus (replaces 211-405-371A) - (4) Four required per vehicle,
• 1980-91 Vanagon models (2WD & 4WD) - (2) Two required per vehicle

Replacing an LBJ on a Bus, or a 2WD/4WD Vanagon is very labor-intensive. It requires the disassembly of pretty much the entire front suspension. It is so costly on the labor side that you do not want to pay a mechanic $150+/hr to do it again… and again.

That is the problem with all the other ball joints on the market: hit one decent-sized pothole and clunk clunk clunk goes your suspension. The relatively soft cap and malleable plastic internal parts can only take one good hit—and that’s it. It probably won’t completely fail (although that can happen, too), but the noise that ensues is maddening. That's why we came up with the GoWesty all-steel lower ball joint.

There is nothing soft or malleable about this ball joint. It can take hit after hit after hit without a whisper of a clunk. Tried and true over thousands of miles running the NORRA Mexican 1000, these LBJs are virtually indestructible. Plus, these ball joints are greaseable, too. Grab a Right-Angle Grease Gun Nozzle for easier access to the low-profile grease fitting (required for Syncro) or simply replace the provided low-profile grease fitting with a standard zerk fitting (included). Refer to the PDF instructions.

Service Interval: We recommend greasing these ball joints every 3500-5000 miles. Doing this when you change your oil is a great way to remember!

Important: Do not over-torque the nut! Factory spec is only 74 ft-lbs. Never use impact tools to tighten the nut.

Critical Note: The pins (the part the big nut screws onto) on these all-metal ball joints are much harder than the regular ball joints. This makes them very wear-resistant but also makes them more sensitive to over-torquing. It is never a good idea to use an impact wrench to tighten any ball joint, but it is especially important not to do that to these ball joints. DO NOT USE AN IMPACT WRENCH to tighten these lower ball joints. You can use an impact to get the pin taper to seat (stop spinning), but once the pin stops spinning: STOP and use a torque wrench to tighten them the rest of the way to 74 ft-lb factory specification.