MTFCA Forum

I just adjusted my rod beatings. I removed the inspection cover on a 4-dip pan which necessitated disconnecting the wishbone ball socket. When putting it all back together, the ball socket does not line up with the pan. It is about 3/8 of an inch off. Is this normal? Is there some type of trick to get the wishbone and pan to align? Thanks.

My wishbone looked like this when I got it. I fixed the ugliness but still had a misalignment problem, which I have not resolved yet. I'll get to that next project.
I used a ratchet strap attached to the front axle and rear frame to gently pull the wishbone into alignment. Then I installed the cap. The alignment issue in my car is due to severely worn shackles and bushings. I have replacements and I'm waiting for the paint to cure before installing them.

If the wishbone ball goes to one side, the axle would be cocked. This could happen if one wheel were blocked and the car moved forward or backward. If the wishbone is moved forward from the socket it could be the weight on the front spring is not compressing it completely. If you lower the car to the floor, does the ball still out of alignment?
Norm

I just encountered that on my Coupe. The axle is cocked. My solution was to put a jack under the wishbone near the ball and blocks in front of one tire and behind the other and rock the car. It jumped right in. The car runs and steers fine.
Rich

I heard of one case where 1" had to be welded into the wishbone to extend it to fit. The distance from teh axle to the socket was just too far to reach.... It seems not all wishbones are the same length!

Thanks guys!! I used all your tips to make it an easy fix: Rocked the wheels to horizontal alignment, used bottle jack to move ball to correct height and used ratchet tow ropes to gently move ball into position!! Thanks again!!!

IMHO the easiest way to align the wishbone ball is to loosen the nuts that clamp the front spring to the frame channel. With the spring loose it is easy to move the axle a small amount to where the ball aligns with the socket.