posted 10-03-2018 12:28 PM                  

As more time went by we've seen the recall BJ's fail. Not sure how many of those had torn boots that might have contributed to failures but there's been several that have had the stem pull right out of the housing(without torn boots), due to clearance that the ball has pounded into the retaining portion of the housing. And it would make sense that there's some kind of metal to metal contact that starts this grinding process leading to failures.

posted 10-03-2018 06:44 PM                  

Now I'm a slight bit confused regarding the installation. You said the snap ring was not used. The snap ring was to hold the boot on right? If not used then what's securing the boot in place? Or was it determined that the pressure of it once torqued in place was all that was needed? And did the snap ring not work because of the outside tab holes for the snap ring wrench once in place, would have interfered with the sides of the a-arm hole being pulled into the a-arm from the bottom?

The washer provided was supposed to go under the castle nut so when applying torque to the castle nut you wouldn't be tightening the steel nut into the aluminum surface of the knuckle.

posted 10-03-2018 07:30 PM                  

If you look at the third picture I posted, you will see the ball joint installed and the next thing is the boot. I had posted explanations with the pictures but someone of them got lost in the shuffle when I saw the pics were out of focus and I deleted some and obviously screwed up the explanation of the step being completed.

posted 10-04-2018 11:57 AM                  

However.... I've got a couple of issues that I need to get clarified from Glen. I will contact him and get back with everybody.

posted 10-04-2018 12:21 PM                  

quote:

---

Originally posted by ed monahan:

New ball joint in place

---

posted 10-04-2018 05:10 PM                  

The Boot!!...The boot does not need a retaining ring to stay in place. In pushes on and fits into a groove on the housing. Once it's compressed, not going anywhere.

posted 10-04-2018 06:29 PM                  

"As Ed’s pictures show, these are a really straight forward install. The only loose components with the ball joint will be the washer, grease fitting, castle nut and cotter pin.

We are expecting to get some of these out of production hopefully mid to end of the month. You can email me directly, Glen@rareparts.com to get on the back order. I need name, address, phone number, and forum name. The special we talked about will be good until 10/31/18 at $67.46/each which is a 25% off savings from our online pricing. After that time we will release the product to our vendors to list up online.

Thank you for contacting me regarding this need and giving Rare Parts the opportunity to build the lower ball joints to keep Prowlers on the road!!

posted 10-05-2018 10:46 AM                  

Because I sent Pictures of the lower control arm and ball joints to Rare parts on behalf of Cat-a tonic I have received a few emails from rare parts Glen. This one came today.

read below

RE: Plymouth Prowler lower ball joints in various states.
Shopping
tech@rareparts.com
Today at 11:38 AM
To
'DESJARDINS'

Message body

Hello Rob,

I just wanted to let you know our first units have been installed in Ed's Prowler. Ed has posted them up on the forum and we are offering your members a 25% off discount from our $89.95 online pricing for $67.46/ea. We are expecting to be able to ship by the end of this month.

Please email me your address, phone number, and credit card info. If you are more comfortable calling in your card info, please give me a call directly at 1-800-621-20005 xt.2124.

Thank you,

GLEN KNOWLES
NEW SALES DEVELOPMENT/PRODUCT TECH SUPPORT

Direct: 209-323-3924
1-800-621-2005 x2124

RareParts.com
FabSeries.com
Instagram.com/RarePartsInc
youtube.com/RareParts
facebook.com/RareParts

Visit Rare Parts, Inc. at the 2018 SEMA show in Las Vegas.
• Central Hall - Restoration Row # 24184
• South Hall Upper - Truck/SUV # 38093

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The contents of this email message and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information and may be legally protected from disclosure.

-----Original Message-----
From: DESJARDINS <rrdesjardins@rogers.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2018 6:54 AM
To: Glen Knowles <tech@rareparts.com>
Subject: Re: Plymouyh Prowler lower ball joints in various states.

First thank you for taking on this task. The whole community of prowler owners appreciate any help we can get.
You will not have a problem establishing a list of purchasers. The part is essential to running our cars safe.

My Home base is in Canada. Mike asked me to forward pictures to you. I will leave the venter to Mike.
I will certainly purchase and advertise for you when product is ready for sale.
Thank you from all prowler owners. Rob
--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 6/15/18, Glen Knowles <tech@rareparts.com> wrote:

Subject: Re: Plymouyh Prowler lower ball joints in various states.
To: rrdesjardins@rogers.com
Date: Friday, June 15, 2018, 11:21 AM

Rob,
If I did not respond yet to you, thank you very much for sending in the pictures. If you are interested in some of the ball joints, please email me your last name, address, phone number, and your credit card information. I have not seen any solid prices yet, but since you have been able to supply these images to help us out, I can also offer you better pricing. Also our new computer system will not let me save an account with out payment info. I am trying to show our machine shop there is a demand so we put more of them together which should help the individual pricing as well. I will not charge anything to your card until we have pricing situated and you authorize a purchase. If you would like to wait, I understand that as well. At this point Mike is sending us one more of his newer ball joints so we will have a baseline when we use our tensile tester to perform a pullout test. Please let me know if you are interested. Thank you, Glen KnowlesNew Sales Development / Product Technical SupportRARE PARTS, INC. 621 Wilshire Ave. | Stockton, CA
95203 Direct Office: 1-800-621-2005 ext.
2124 RareParts.com FabSeries.com Instagram.com/RarePartsInc youtube.com/RareParts facebook.com/RareParts

On Sun,
Apr 29, 2018 at 10:44 AM DESJARDINS <rrdesjardins@rogers.com>
wrote:

Glen Knowles
hello Glen Mike asked me to send these to you . If you need anything else shot me and email.thank you for taking the time to look into this rob.

The Nick Page on

posted 10-11-2018 03:28 PM                  

As many have already said, Thank You to all involved in getting this project developed through completion.

Update:
I just got off the phone with Glen. I had a nice conversation with him. He asked if there was a market for the upper ball joints and I told him that I thought people would buy them if they became available. I also mentioned the rear suspension lower ball joint as another item to look at. I imagine in time, it may become necessary to service all of these pieces.

Glen assured me that Rare Parts retains the information in their files when they make a part so that they can make the part available as needed in the future.

I ordered three pairs of lower ball joints. One pair for the car, one pair for my spare front suspension, and one set to have on hand for someday or someone in need.