Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi All,

Can anyone tell me for definate that the ball joints that the boot lid struts attach to are welded on?

I have one that has snapped off.

There appears not to be a part available from porsche which seems to indicate it cant be welded. However the way it sits makes it looks like it has been screwed in?

I have a part to replace it from a kind lister off the 928uk list, but before I start grinding wondered if anyone else out there had tried to replace?

Also - my tool kit and spare wheel were missing when I bought the car and have now bought most of the bits. Could someone with a digi camera to hand take photos of how the wheel sits with jack? and also what tools go where in the tool storage thing. I dont have them all so need to know what the missing bits look like!
Also not sure where the compressor goes, or what else I am missing.

Thanks in advance!

Best Regards
Paul

Hi Paul,

David Hemmings, in his The Real 928 book, reckons the balls were originally riveted on, but I would have assumed welded for strength?

As back of mounting not accessible he suggests cutting thread in hole and screwing in with drop of loctite. Welding is possible, but he cautions against risk of scorching paint at the edge of the tailgate.

He also describes an ingenious method applicable to S2 and onwards so should work in your car. There is an access hole on either side of tailgate at front, which you can get to by removing interior tailgate trim fixed by combination of plastic push-in rivets, screws and spring clips.

Then you solder straightened out wire coathanger (I'm being serious - this is what it says and a guy claims he's done this successfully on several cars) and solder it to a suitable nut for the stud on the new ball (it's a 10mm ball, common to many cars so you can use the part from other cars). You then feed the nut down the hole at end of wire down inside of frame, until the nut lines up with hole where old ball joint was. Screw in the new ball tightly, then tug hard on wire with pliers to break the solder joint. He suggests if joint won't break, to tuck end of wire in through access hole and bend it so it won't rattle.

I'd be intrigued to hear if this works so do report back!

Photos are of left and right sides of my tool tray. Frankly the tools are poor quality so I carry another set of decent tools anyway!

Can't help with the spare wheel well as there is an extra amp in mine for rear speakers so though room for tyre, no room for jack and compressor there which is where they are usually tucked away. I just keep mine under the cargo net.

Rennlist is brilliant for technical queries. Here's a copy of post on broken hatch ball repair:


I'm sure this has happened before, but in replacing my hatch shocks on the 82, I broke off the small ball on one side. The unit is welded into the body at the factory, so..

For lack of anything else, I drilled a 10x32 hole through the ball, tapped it and put a 3/4in long 10x32 machine screw in it. I then drilled and tapped the section left in the car - had to file it down flat a bit, and lay a thin piece of metal over the rubber to keep the drill from cutting it up and drilled and tapped the remaining connector in the car.

A little loctit on the bolt, cut the head of with a grinder and you have a ball with a threaded section that can be screwed into the car.

Done. It took about 20 minutes total. I was relieved to say the least.

The fitments from a late 1980's/early 1990's Ford Escort works well and the Rover 45 fitment is a close enough size to work as well although both have a spring washer that you need to get rid of so the thread screws into the body more. This is important as it affects the distance
between tailgate and body when you close the tailgate!!

Before heading off to the local scrapyard measure the remaining ball on the '28 from body to tip of ball and then check on possible donor cars in scrapyard. Remember to allow for the removal of washer.

I used the Rover 45 fitment and carefully tapped a thread in the car body to suit and then screwed it into place. Put a nice dollop of grease into each end of the strut on assembly. Cost 50p and about half an hour of time to sort and has so far lasted 4 years or so.

3 tips:

1. Use a broomstick or similar to prop the tailgate up (its really bloody heavy)

2. Carefully check tailgate-body distance on first closure to make sure you have got it right.

3. Once you have completed the repair remove the strut on the good side and grease up. Check and re-grease these struts once a year to prolong the life of the joints.

Believe it or not I still have a "spare" ball shank that I picked up from the scrapyard at the time. It needs cleaning up but might suit. Send me a PM with your addre4ss and I'll pop it in the post

Good luck

Paul

Hi All,

Thanks all for the advice ... very much appreciated! And the photos are a great help. I know whats missing now!

The ball that has broken off is on the boot lid, so probably harder to sort than if it was one on the main body.

I will check if I have the snapped ball ... never checked if it was still in the strut. Might then try screwing through the ball and tapping into the stump that's left.

If not I am not convinced that drilling a large hole in the tailgate will work to well unless I could secure it from behind with a nut. I am guessing the technique of solding the nut on a coat hanger might not work for the lid? Will have to check and see. Going to be interesting to see how I get it sorted. I think will sleep on it and attack again tomorrow!

Thanks all!
Regards
Paul

That's a good point Paul. I was assuming the coathanger method applied to the more difficult ball on the hatch but may be completely wrong.

Paul am very impressed by your effective fix. If it ever happens to me will try to enlist your help!

Hi there, did you ever manage to do this?

Mine is the same on the drivers side. I could hear the strut ping when i shut the boot a couple of months ago.

Looking at the stud it was rusty round the edge.

The other side seems ok but i will grease it up soon.

Felt I had to write in to say the response to this subject by "Stratfordshark" & "PaulPSB" is what the forums are all about - full marks to the pair of you for your time, knowledge and enthusiasm in wishing to help out on this problem. I realise there are many many other people doing the same on this and similar forums, but it is very refreshing to know that there are people willing to help.

Thanks for kind words Andrew.

I am always talking balls!

Finally got my S4 out for a blast at weekend after not driving it for 2 months because of snow, other weekend stuff etc.

Was expecting probs after such a long dormant period but only problem I could find was cigar lighter not always heating up depending on position when you pressed it in. Am non-smoker but my 11 year old liked playing with it...Power to socket itself fine (I use it for compressor to keep tyres at correct psi)

Now would be really anal of me to fix the lighter or replace it. Must resist!

You're a better man than me if you can resist fixing it!

Andrew is right, always helpful and enjoyable to read.

Hi

I am a smoker and had same problem...bought a brand new lighter and socket from OPC....didn't last more than 2 months lol...same problem came back.....the trick is to GENTLY remove lighter from socket or it WILL pull out the receiver at irregular times lol

All the best Brett

Hi Paul

Both Adrian & Paul B have provided excellent accounts of how to resolve your tailgate strut pin issue and the positions of the parts on the tool shelf. [Excellent info as always from these guys].

With regard to your question about the spare wheel and compressor, the collapsible spare wheel goes in the rear boot section under the carpet and Polycarbonate floor cover. This is creased so it can be "hinged" as it is lifted out usually. If it is not "creased so it hinges then you will have to be very careful not to force it in order to lift it up. You may need to "pull" at either side [front & back] of the Polycarbonate cover so it will lift out of the locating lugs. With this removed the spare wheel sits "Face Down" in the wheel well above the battery box. Some of the earlier 928's have a hand locking nut to screw into the floor through the centre of the wheel - I have never used mine & I leave the hand nut on the shelf in the garage. The wheel usually needs a bit of a shove to get it to squeeze into the sunken area of the rear boot area, its fits very snug!

The original Porsche compressor in its plastic moulded case then fits inside the wheel. Again this is a very snug fit! My last 928 was fortunate to have all the wheel well full with original fittings which also included a couple of bags which were found under the compressor inside the spare wheel, these contained spare belts for the Power steering, AC, Alternator etc. as well as the sunroof key/handle which is needed in emergency - only if you have a sunroof of course. The other bags contained plastic bags for any road wheel you had to change & put inside your car, some plastic disposable overalls and some plastic gloves for your hands should you get caught out in the wet changing a wheel.

The Jack & wheel brace fits into a neat carpet style wallet which some manage to fit around the edge of the wheel in the wheel well. Mine sits on the floor above under the cargo net.
I will try to take a few photos of mine if that helps unless I can find some on Rennlist or Nichols site later this evening.
Hope this helps
Steve

Hi Brett,

With experimentation I found that if you had the lighter in one position then it clicks in power position correctly, heats up and ejects in a few seconds.

If you rotate the lighter a bit (the cigarette symbol handy reference) then it will engage but never eject! In fact I've discovered (by undoing ash tray so I could release it by poking metal tab) that it's not heating up when it seems "jammed in", but I got paranoid that it was heating up and not ejecting, so didn't dare drive off before dismantling the ashtray in case smoke started pouring from console!

Have learnt something new Steve.

I found those belts in the wheel well, and just assumed previous owner had bought spares and kept them there. It sounds like they were part of original kit?

Cheers

Adrian

Hi Adrian

Wow, glad to be able to shed some light on that.I still have my original set up from my silver 928 which has the unopened bags of everything. I will try to take some photo's at the weekend of everything. The only thing that has been squeezed out of the bags is the Sunroof crank handle - if you can remember - from a previous owner & I had problems with my sunroof motor so had to use it for a while.

Cheers
Steve