tie rod & ball joint rubber seals

[milehighbear]

Has anyone ever found or needed just the little rubber dustcovers that go on top of tie rod ends or ball joint end. I tore mine up and tierod and ball joints are only 6 months old. Is it possible to get these rubber covers other than a junk yard.

[skeeters_keeper]

lower ball joint dust boot energy suspension part#9.13101

not sure of the tierod boot cover, may be the same part. energysuspension.com has all their sizes listed if you want to measure and check.

Their polyurethane and last a lot longer than the crappy rubber ones, i have them on my lower BJ's, you can get them on e-bay or sometimes autozone caries them.

[Pu241]

Thanks Nate,

Looks like the ball joint and tie-rod are the same part per your number above (9.13101).
Check the last two parts on the link below.
And available in Red or Black!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/search.asp

[milehighbear]

thanks nate. I did check autozone and they don't have right one. Ill try NAPA next and if they dont have it ill go to energysuspension. Really appreciate the info. Ty also Pu241.

[skeeters_keeper]

yea, i've got the red ones! they have lasted well so far... I had them on my old lower BJ's, when i put new fms BJ's on I left the rubber ones on there and put the poly ones on the shelf, then when about 6 months later the rubber was already coming apart I put the poly ones on the new balljoints and their still doing great.

[Pu241]

Yeah, polyureathan is so much more tolerant of UV, heat, and ozone than the poor quality rubber.
Thanks again Nate, going to order a couple of sets!
Bet they keep the balljoint from failing over 3-4 years or 100K miles, even on the lower quality control arms.
Do you just pull the remains of the old boot off and slip the new one on?
Any wire hold downs to reseat on the bottom of the boot?

[skeeters_keeper]

yea, I just pulled the old ones off. They are rather stuck to the lip on the ball joint, I used a razor to try to clean the lip up as much as possible. one variant I saw had a metal band set in the rubber around the bottom, the other kind had wire wrappings holding the rubber down. The poly boots don't come with anything to hold them down and for the lower BJ's seem to stay in place pretty nicely by themselves, I just slip a grease needle up under the edge ever now and then to make sure they've still got plenty of grease. It would be a lot nicer if there were grease zerks (sp?) on our joints, but i haven't found any. It may be possible to drill, tap, and install our own, i thought about it, but wasn't willing to risk my new BJ's for the experiment, I may still try sometime i've got more than enough old LCA's laying around.
For holding the boots up on the rod ends you may want to look into wrapping them with wire or something, I'm not sure the rubber on my escort boots is still passable so I haven't replaced them yet.

[milehighbear]

i just ordered a couple packs for ball joints and for tie rod ends. ty again nate for letting me know where to get em, gonna keep in favorites