Yesterday i was swapping a lower ball joint on the mk1, and got to thinking about the ball joint extenders that are available, and had an idea all be it a probally a stupid one, where as the ball joint extenders still use the original part but extend the shaft to lower the wishbone, you then have no further adjustment, so heres the idea. Instead of lowering the ball joint leave it where it is, lower the wishbone to the desired position,use an old or damaged ball joint and remove the main part so your left with the part with the 3 bolt holes, fit this into the wishbone fitting to prevent crushing, then connect the original ball joint to the now lowered wishbone with a spacer of some sort and fitted with 3 high tensile bolts, i.e. 12.0. The spacer could also be extended to utilise the bolts required for the arb for aditional strenght if required. In this configuration the original ball joint is not under additional strain and the spacer is only under compression from the fixings, the original part placed inside the wish bone mounting point prevents the bolts from crushing the spacing, heres a really poor drawing of what i mean,
The problem is that the geometrical lines run through the centre of the ball joint. So by leaving the ball joint where it is and lowering the wishbone only will not solve the issue. This is why people resorted to extending the ball joint shaft or by using hub housings with a lower ball joint mount from factory. Gurds
