72 bluNblu...
That may be true but I think a simple solution would be to put a neck on the area where the boot attaches to the arm just like the factory. While I know this is a challenge to mfg. it needs to be done otherwise these are useless. If Hotchkis has the same issue it needs to be fixed. The problem had to be obvious before these were shipped to me I questioned it once I looked at the parts but thought maybe it'd work. This is something that should of been recitifed before they were shipped. IMHO. That's how it works where I work anyway.
I'm not trying to bash Dillingers work but this is a MAJOR problem. The powder coat is also coming off in sheets due to improper prep. I also ordered the adjustable strut rods and heim tie rods and the box they were shipped in had holes in it from it being too small to fit the parts and it was beat up in shipping. So if there are suppose to be spacers with the tie rod ends, which I have another post on this forum about, they were lost in shipment. Not entirely Dillingers issue but it started with a box that was too small for the parts. And the parts had a couple of loose sheets of bubble wrap to protect the parts in shipment which did nothing.
I've read several posts on how nice John is and I'm sure it's true. But the warm and fuzzies from that doesn't help me with getting my car back on the road. I didn't buy the "Nice guy" I bought the parts.
As I mentioned, this isn't just a problem with the design of John's UCA's. Its not even a problem limited to tubular UCA's in general, the new ball joint boots don't even fit
STOCK, factory UCA's, which have the landing area that "should" solve the problem. It doesn't. I can crawl under my Duster and take a picture, but its a problem with the ball joint boots being made now. Either they're shorter than they used to be, or the rubber is less flexible, because they don't stay sealed on the factory arms either. The boot pops off of that little neck on the factory UCA with suspension travel.
I had the same problem with my RMS uppers. I ended up ordering a set of poly boots that fit really tight around what little of the lower lower ball joint is exposed below the control arm.
So that makes Dillinger, Magnumforce, Hotchkis, RMS and the factory UCA's that all have the same problem. Its not a UCA issue, its a ball joint boot issue.
I've tried a set of poly boots as well, they work good for the lower ball joint, but not so great for the upper. Probably better than the rubber ones though.
Realistically though, I don't see how this is a catastrophe. You're running adjustable UCA's, which have unshielded heim joints on them. If you think they'll last longer than a ball joint without a boot on the street, I have bad news for you. They don't. Hotchkis shipped me replacement heims for my UCA's after just 7k miles of street driving, the originals were trashed. I've since decided that heim joints on a street car isn't the greatest idea if you're putting on any significant mileage, or running in any kind of weather. Heims are consumable parts on race cars, and street cars that see daily driver miles eat them up. Probably fine for weekend cars that don't see big miles or weather, but not a good idea for daily's unless you like changing heim joints and getting alignments frequently.
Still working without a picture of the issue, but have to checked the alignment yet? If your numbers are way off, you may see improvement when you bring it closer to the right alignments specs...
