Gene Berg linkage ball joints life

[Ninho/DKM]

Anyone of you had ever tested lifelong of our beloved Gene Berg carb linkage ball joints?
Mine was installed new quite 8 years ago and had a quite daily use and some race action. Now i have some issues finding carbs alignement and it looks like they got some excessive play during very first increasing play accelerating.
May be i have to change them with new ones? Just after 8 years on not so heavy use? What is your experiences?
Thanks to all for answering.

http://www.geneberg.com/images/IMG_2582%20(Medium).JPG

http://www.geneberg.com/product_info.php?cPath=234&products_id=2954

[DWL_Puavo]

They do get a bit loose and have excessive play, at least they are easy to replace. The round bar's fixings also tend to wear as they don't have proper bearings. Fixable of course but quite a bit of a work as you have to separate the end welds from the bar and re-weld them after installing some kind of bushings or bearings - and then there's no more galvanizing on the ends of the rods.

[Jim Ratto]

I remember getting frustrated trying to maintain synchronous opening with worn out stock ball-joints that the Berg linkage came with. In some areas, replacements are pretty easy to come up with (they're 1/4x28 thread). Some versions of these have a (pretty weak) rubber boot to temporarily keep grit out.
I found a much better alternative at Midwest Controls, better ball-joints, with RH and LH thread, and I also ordered 1/4x28 threaded links (also RH-LH thread) so I can adjust overall length without having to unbolt a ball joint. These have been on my car for over 66,000 miles, and they are as tight as they were new, in 2007.

[glenn]

I replaced the original ones with the same that Jim mentioned. I purchased the Berg linkage back in the early 1980s. At the time my car was daily driven and never garaged. I restored my car in 1997 and at that time replaced the original ball joints with the newer replacements. Honestly, i don't remember the last time I hat to touch the linkage.