Ball Joint Manufacturer

[vwnate1]

I keep hearing that Lemforder is the OEM manufacturer and they're not .

TRW is .

I'm in the middle of a complete suspension rebuild on one of my W123's , nothing from Mercedes has Lemforder marks, not a single part .

My cheapskate brother just bought the big suspension kit from that place in Bellingham, Washington we're not supposed to mention, it came with lots of myle parts, the ball joints were myle and couldn't be pressed into the lower control arms .

I mention this because I keep seeing complaints about folks doing ball joints and bushings using cheapo paerts them complaining when they get loose again after two or three years regardless of miles driven .

Sadly this is one of those cases where you get what you pay for .

[97 SL320]

Originally Posted by vwnate1

I keep hearing that Lemforder is the OEM manufacturer and they're not .

TRW is .

It depends on the car / year and of the parts had been changed before. I've pulled Lemfoerder from my 97 era cars. Also Lemfoerder uses an owl in a triangle that is sometimes difficult to see on a rubber boot.

https://www.zf.com/unitedkingdom/en_gb/lemfoerder/about_us_lemfoerder/zf_portfolio_lemfoerder/index.html

LEMFÖRDER Part of the ZF Aftermarket Portfolio

Other ZF Aftermarket product brands

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• TRW
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Originally Posted by vwnate1

I'm in the middle of a complete suspension rebuild on one of my W123's , nothing from Mercedes has Lemforder marks, not a single part .

Any markings / numbers ( excluding MB numbers ) at all ?

Originally Posted by vwnate1

My cheapskate brother just bought the big suspension kit from that place in Bellingham, Washington we're not supposed to mention, it came with lots of myle parts, the ball joints were myle and couldn't be pressed into the lower control arms .

What method was he using to install the ball joints?

[Diesel911]

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/275392-ball-joints-differances-tolerances-123-a.html?highlight=tolerances

Somewhere in my old thread the URO part of the URO Ball Joints that presses into the hole in the Steering Knuckle is measured and compared to a Lemforder one. Perhaps Myele is buying from the same source.

[BillGrissom]

I gave the dimensions of a new ball joint I installed in my W123. It is in pishta's thread "Redneck Ball Joint ..." as I recall. It measured larger D than the one I removed. I had to heat the spindle and really work the Autozone C-clamp press to get it in, and sure it will never get loose.

[Father Of Giants]

Literally couldn't imagine buying anything other than Lemforder, or Genuine Mercedes.

[vwnate1]

All this is for W123 chassis .

M-B no longer services the center link so I bought a Lemforder one, the mark on it doesn't match the marks on any of the factory parts .

A ball joint press is what is used to change ball joints .