I purchased Proforged ball joints for my 2010 GT, and when I tried to install them, I found that they are too big to fit in the hole in the a-arm. I couldn't believe my eyes and figured it must be my mistake somehow, but checking it several ways I find that they are indeed too big. Pics attached.

The part number is 101-10011, and I double-checked Proforged web site and it lists the same part. (I bought them from Rock Auto)

Does anyone know what is the story behind this; and how do I make sure I reorder the right ball joints?

thanks in advance

PS -- yeah, I painted the a-arm red . . . after all the work to remove it and the bushings, I thought it should look different when I put it back in, LOL

 

update -- I think this might be a "red headed step-child" problem with my 2010 . . . . I think the ball joints were upsized in 2011, and the ones I got are for the 2011+ cars; for my 2010 I need the 2005-2009 ball joint . . . does that make sense; is anyone else familiar with that?

 

When I had my 2010 it seems like the only thing that transferred to the 11+ was the Body so you might be correct.
On a side note the Moog # for the 2010-14 K500313 and the 2009 is #K500033 and going by the pics on Advance auto's web site the 09 does look smaller.

 

hmmmm . . . makes me wonder if they changed the ball joints during the 2010 model year and maybe I got one of the earlier ones with the older/smaller ball joints

 

That is what I was thinking, I even looked at the upper and it is a threaded shaft, not smooth shaft like the ones you have.
I was looking around online to see if anyone had the actual size and could not find it.
Was your car built before 8/2/09 by chance. Don't know if the difference was the ball joint, actual control arm or the control arm bushings but I got a different part number when I looked up the lower control arm.

 

BTW CJ's has the Steeda Lowered ball joints listed for the 2005-10 for the X5's and 2011-14 for the X11's.
They also have the Pro Forged 101-10011 listed for your car, the 2005-09 is 101-10009.

 

Bert I know you like track work so I was thinking it might pay you in the long run to simply put '11-'14 control arms on the car. A little more money, but you would have the safety advantage of a bigger ball joint and all new control arm bushings as well. If the shaft portion of the ball joint is bigger in diameter than your current ball joint then you would have to change the spindles or uprights too. Since you have a dial caliper that should be easy to find out. Good luck.

 

hey guys, thanks for the inputs

Yep, I am 99% sure that is the explanation -- my car was an early 2010 build, before the change to the 2011+ ball joint and a-arm

I think ProForged is the source of the incorrect listing; meaning they did not distinguish between the early and late 2010 cars and they have only the later fitment listed. I e-mailed then and I did get a response "we are not sure what is going on" so apparently they are not aware of the difference either.

yeah, that would have been a great idea, but it is too late now, I am getting close to the end of this job . . . I would have been so much better off if I had purchased the complete BMR A-arm with the ball joints and bushings already installed . . . this job has been dragging out forever, mostly because of the difficulty of removing the old bushings, this ball joint thing is the latest chapter in a long saga

I got the "right" ball joints yesterday and hope to get it put back together today, will post up later

 

Glad to hear Bert

 

To close the loop on this: yes, there are two ball joints for the 2010 model year; Rock Auto and most others have the wrong ones listed for my car.

The early build 2010's had the same a-arms and ball joints as the 09's ; part way through the year they changed the a-arms and ball joints to be the same as the 2011 model year. I don't remember the date but I think it is posted on here somewhere.

Here is a picture of the old ball joint, the correct (smaller) new ball joint, and the later version of the ball joint.

 

You can use the bigger ones on your 2012 when you get it.