Replacing the upper ball joint. (Page 2) : Trabant Tech Forum : TrabantForums

Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #16
mbeamish mbeamish Northern Ireland, Ireland Sign in to contact	Apr 29, 2017 02:34 AM Joined 13 years ago 1,086 Posts

In reply to a post by 'bant, post: 21742, member: 1386 We don't pay VAT in Germany we pay it to the Norwegian authorities when the goods pass through customs in Norway. Most items don't incur extra import taxes beyond VAT. I wouldn't call it "stung" but what I dislike is the administration charge levied by the freight companies, which is between 15 and 25 Eur per package (if the value of goods and postage is higher than Eur 35. This charge means I generally make large orders - I don't like buying Eur 40 of goods and then paying Eur 15 in administrative charges although sometimes this is unavoidable. o_O

Sounds familiar . When i have bought stuff from America there are import duties but also 'handling charges' by Royal Mail .It means your American bargain ends up as expensive as buying in UK .

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Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #17
Erik Trabant Erik Trabant Norway Sign in to contact	Topic Creator (OP) May 12, 2017 01:37 PM Joined 11 years ago 31 Posts

Update: I have now fitted a new upper fork with the bushings and the job went smoother than expected. The Trabant is such a lovely car to work on.
My neighbor managed to back into my ca in this period also, luckily the only damage was one tail light, and I managed to get the parts for that job in the same order
That is now painted and installed. So now the "EU-control" awaits. (MOT)

Shipping time from Germany to where I live, far up north in Norway was 4 effective shipping days (friday to wednesday).

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Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #18
mbeamish mbeamish Northern Ireland, Ireland Sign in to contact	May 12, 2017 02:08 PM Joined 13 years ago 1,086 Posts

I would grease the top and bottom king pins every few thousand miles . The plastic bushes wear rapidly if you don't grease them regularly

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Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #19
Erik Trabant Erik Trabant Norway Sign in to contact	Topic Creator (OP) May 12, 2017 02:09 PM Joined 11 years ago 31 Posts

Thats for the tip. Will do!
Any grease you recommend? So far I´ve used some sort of "Universal-automobile-grease.."

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Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #20
mbeamish mbeamish Northern Ireland, Ireland Sign in to contact	May 12, 2017 02:13 PM Joined 13 years ago 1,086 Posts

Sounds ok Good luck with your test /inspection

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Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #21
Erik Trabant Erik Trabant Norway Sign in to contact	Topic Creator (OP) May 15, 2017 02:55 PM Joined 11 years ago 31 Posts

Passed! With zero notifications!

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Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #22
mbeamish mbeamish Northern Ireland, Ireland Sign in to contact	May 15, 2017 03:31 PM Joined 13 years ago 1,086 Posts

Congratulations . Do you get one year or two? UK is one year only . Republic of ireland you get two years

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Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #23
Erik Trabant Erik Trabant Norway Sign in to contact	Topic Creator (OP) May 16, 2017 01:40 AM Joined 11 years ago 31 Posts

Thanks! Two years here also. And in two years the Trabant will be 30years, and officially a 'veteran-car'. Cheaper insurance, and a few other benefits.

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Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #24
bant Stan W Nome, Telemark, Norway Sign in to contact 1982 Trabant 601 1982 Trabant 601 LX	May 30, 2017 02:22 AM Joined 10 years ago 317 Posts

In reply to a post by Erik Trabant, post: 21878, member: 1124 Shipping time from Germany to where I live, far up north in Norway was 4 effective shipping days (friday to wednesday).

That's quick! As I mentioned most of my packages seem to get stuck for days in Oslo. Maybe things will change now we are moving to Telemark...

Did the new suspension parts cure the pulling problem?

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Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #25
bant Stan W Nome, Telemark, Norway Sign in to contact 1982 Trabant 601 1982 Trabant 601 LX	May 30, 2017 02:24 AM Joined 10 years ago 317 Posts

My Trabant is over 30 years old, next MOT is due in Sept 2022...

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Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #26
Erik Trabant Erik Trabant Norway Sign in to contact	Topic Creator (OP) May 30, 2017 07:42 AM Joined 11 years ago 31 Posts

It did sort that problem out yea! So it's every 5 year after its 30years then?

I do have one minor problem now, the other side, which I haven't replaced the suspension fork, does not accept any grease from my grease gun. So step one will be to replace the grease nipple and try again.

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Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #27
bant Stan W Nome, Telemark, Norway Sign in to contact 1982 Trabant 601 1982 Trabant 601 LX	May 30, 2017 08:09 AM Joined 10 years ago 317 Posts

If you take a hammer and a small nail, and gently tap in the tiny ball that sits in the hole in the centre of the grease nipple then that can free up the ball allowing you to get grease in. Not that it is difficult to replace a grease nipple.

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Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #28
bant Stan W Nome, Telemark, Norway Sign in to contact 1982 Trabant 601 1982 Trabant 601 LX	May 30, 2017 08:11 AM Joined 10 years ago 317 Posts

In reply to a post by Erik Trabant, post: 21980, member: 1124 So it's every 5 year after its 30years then?
.

That sounds about right my other two cars have sept 2021 as their next EU kontroll.

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Re: Replacing the upper ball joint. #29
Erik Trabant Erik Trabant Norway Sign in to contact	Topic Creator (OP) May 31, 2017 04:44 AM Joined 11 years ago 31 Posts

I'll try to free up the ball! Thanks for the tip.

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Replacing the upper ball joint.

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