Decent Ball Joint Repros?

[Craig S.]

So is anyone aware of these repops.....and are they any good? They look better than what I have seen before.....Craig




eBay listing of repop joints

[Mark #28455]

Re: Decent Ball Joint Repros?

Agree that they look better than the standard ball joints but that's not saying much as the standard replacement parts are obviously not correct. While these are close, they too have several differences from stock such as the apparent curve of the dome of the upper ball joint - look closely at the pictures and you'll notice small details.

[Eugene B.]

Re: Decent Ball Joint Repros?

Mark,
Are you gents refering to the ball joints that are advertised on page 16 of the May-June issue of the Driveline? I seem to remember a posting about them last week.

Regards,
Gene

[Irby G.]

Re: Decent Ball Joint Repros?

How do you think these compare to front end reuild kit from Wilcox? Is there somewhere to buy just the rubbers for the front end if joints and bushings appear to be good? (all the rubber on mine are cracking)

[Gary B.]

Decent Ball Joint Repros?

Craig,

I believe those ball joints and pivot shaft bushings are the one that are repro'ed by America's Finest Corvettes in Ramona, CA. I'm not sure why the e-bay seller lists a NM address. Maybe the e-bay person is a reseller?

In any case, the pivot shaft bushings look pretty good to me, from a cosmetics viewpoint.. I think AFC sells them for $10 each, so they aren't a steal if you need a set of 8. "Correct" NOS originals come up on e-bay quite regularly, so I'm not sure there's that much demand for the repro shaft bushings at this point in time.

As to the ball joints, I can't speak to the quality. Only time and miles under real road conditions will tell you that. I do know that original GM ball joints something like $85 each, before they were discontinued some years ago, so it does cost a bit for quality ball joints. Joe Lucia was the first to my knowledge who estimated the AFC repro ball joints to be about 90% correct from a cosmetics perspective. The AFC ad in the Driveline says "Just like G.M. Orig" and "Correct", but I've not heard any unbiased party make that same claim. You have to wonder why someone would go to the trouble of repro'ing that item and not make it 100% correct.

Gary

[Mike M.]

Re: Decent Ball Joint Repros?

What does the threaded end look like?

[Craig S.]

Re: Decent Ball Joint Repros?

Thx Gary - I have purchased from AFC before.....I didn't realize he repro'ed the joints. I was aware of the $10 bushings before. I noticed the curve on the cap that Mark 28455 mentions as well.....but it looks better than most I have seen. I think NOS GM were selling for about $350 a pair for lower joints last year at Carlisle....not sure what these really cost from AFC. I am gussing you are right that the ebay seller is a reseller. Thx for the input!....Craig

[Craig S.]

Re: Decent Ball Joint Repros?

Mark - I noticed the same thing you did.....still they look a lot closer than other joints out there....Craig

[Craig S.]

Re: Decent Ball Joint Repros?

Mike - click on the link to ebay on my original post and you can see the various shots. They do have minor differences from the originals as can be seen in the photos. Like Gary says, if you go to the trouble to duplicate most aspects why not go all the way and make it 100% the same.....Craig

[Joe L.]

Re: Decent Ball Joint Repros?

Craig------

I think that sometimes the difference in the tooling cost to make a 90% correct reproduction can be half as much as to make a 100% correct piece. Sometimes, those "last little details" are not as easy (or cheap) to achieve as it might seem.

With any of these reproduction items, if the tooling has to be re-created to produce the part, the reproduction manufacturer has to consider just what the "economics" are. There's NO WAY that most reproduction parts can be made from OEM-type tooling if the tooling has to be re-created. The production run for reproduction parts is nowhere near enough to justify the cost of OEM-type tooling. The resultant cost of the part would be more than the market would bear. So, some compromises may have to be made. I don't know that's what happened here, but I wouldn't be surprised. Especially for parts like these. It's one thing to tool up for something like an emblem; it's quite another to tool up for something like these ball joints.

Something that did surprise me, though, is the fact that the seller either stated or implied that these were US-manufactured pieces. That does surprise me. Costs being what they are here, I'm surprised that anyone could tool up and make these parts here and sell them at a price that the market would bear. Generally, the "far east" labor situation is what makes a lot of parts like this possible. I don't like it, of course, but that's the reality.

[Joe L.]

Addendum

I should also have mentioned that one has to keep in mind that the VAST, VAST majority of Corvette owners requiring ball joints are NOT going to pay a premium price for a ball joint of original configuration. For the VAST, VAST majority of folks, aftermarket ball joints for about $35-40 each will do the job just fine. There are a very limited number of nuts around like us that would be interested in the configuration of ball joints. So, that tremendously limits the market (and the price for tooling which can be justified).

[Craig S.]

Re: Addendum

Joe - very good points and I understand the economics angle. Guess these may be the best game in town for repro parts for now.....thx!......Craig