MTFCA Forum

Hello All my friend and I were going to attempt to replace the ball on a early front radius rod. We are thinking to cut the old one away on the milling machine drill hole in a inch and a quarter stainless ball barring. I can imagine some here must have tried this, and if not I still would like to hear what the thoughts are on this idea. Or is there a better way to skin this cat? Thanks Craig

I would weld the original ball up and file it back to size. If you thread a new ball on, it would also need to be welded in place to make sure it can't unscrew. A friend of mine had the ball unscrew off his pitman arm which had been repaired in a similar way to what you're suggesting. It's a very good thing it happened in his yard and not on the road otherwise he probably wouldn't be here anymore. If the ball isn't too bad you could install an apco spring loaded cap to tighten the slop up in your socket.

Stephen

The ball on mine was worn .040" side-to-side and .060" top-to-bottom. I took the advice of a forum member and built up the ball with weld and ground it to shape. The process was described with words like "easy" and "fast". It was neither.

My problem was that I don't have my welder set up with shielding gas. I use flux core because I only weld outside and MIG gas gets blown away here on the prairie. There are too many flammable materials in my barn to risk welding inside. Flux core doesn't lay a clean bead like MIG does. It was a painful process to completely cover the ball.

I spent the last two weekends getting the ball back into shape. I cut a template with 1 1/4" hole as a gauge. It was grind, check, grind, check, add more welds to fill voids, repeat. Since I used air grinders, I may have worn out my compressor.

Craig Raynor wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 16, 2020 7:57 am

Hello All my friend and I were going to attempt to replace the ball on a early front radius rod. We are thinking to cut the old one away on the milling machine drill hole in a inch and a quarter stainless ball barring. I can imagine some here must have tried this, and if not I still would like to hear what the thoughts are on this idea. Or is there a better way to skin this cat? Thanks Craig

Instead of the stainless ball bearing you could adapt on a tie rod ball joint end like this and even make it replaceable. They come in different size balls and lengths
https://www.speedwaymotors.com/shop/bal ... -470-18085
https://howeracing.com/collections/howe ... nts?page=1

Thanks for the replies! We cut this this morning and we’re going to pin the ball. After reading through the answers above we will weld it as well. Would anyone here have experience doing this and how it holds up over time/miles?

I use a different approach when saving early pitman arms. They are finer forgings than the repros available from the vendors. I do not cut the old ball off. Rather, it is ground and filed to make a 1/2" round stub which is then threaded. The stub is still larger than the neck at the back of the ball, so no strength is sacrificed/compromised. I use a new tie rod ball with parallel shank from the vendors as a donor for the ball. The shank is held in the lathe and the ball drilled and tapped for the same 1/2' thread. once the ball is threaded onto the arm, the shank can be cut off. i make sure it stays in place by adding a heavy tack weld through the cut end of the shank.
The same process could be used on any radius rod, but I do not know of a source of the larger donor ball required.

Hope this helps.
Allan from downn under.

Allan wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 17, 2020 12:11 am

I use a different approach when saving early pitman arms. They are finer forgings than the repros available from the vendors. I do not cut the old ball off. Rather, it is ground and filed to make a 1/2" round stub which is then threaded. The stub is still larger than the neck at the back of the ball, so no strength is sacrificed/compromised. I use a new tie rod ball with parallel shank from the vendors as a donor for the ball. The shank is held in the lathe and the ball drilled and tapped for the same 1/2' thread. once the ball is threaded onto the arm, the shank can be cut off. i make sure it stays in place by adding a heavy tack weld through the cut end of the shank.
The same process could be used on any radius rod, but I do not know of a source of the larger donor ball required.

Hope this helps.
Allan from downn under.

Allen, would a ball like this work? Don't know what size ball or material needed
Googled threaded ball end got some mixed results
https://www.mscdirect.com/browse/tnpla/ ... gL14fD_BwE

Frank, I think the ball needs to be 1.25" diameter. That style would work, but I would drill the hole clear through and thread it all the way. Then the ball can be welded at the outer end to make it captive. Nice to know such things are generally available.

Allan from down under.

Craig's photo shows the early Y forging which has the tubes coming almost to the ball. Later over-the-axle style wishbones had the forged Y like tose used on the under axle wishbones. I have never been able to ascertain when this change was made.

Allan from down under.

My friend Lloyd an I did a few ball replacements on wishbones. We would set them up in his milling machine and machine the ball down to the diameter of the "stem" then take a ball bearing that we bored out for a slip fit over it. We would then silver braze the two parts together. A steel ball bearing is much harder than the original casting so it should outlive it, especially considering how much we baby our cars now--by actually lubricating everything!

My friend Lloyd an I did a few ball replacements on wishbones. We would set them up in his milling machine and machine the ball down to the diameter of the "stem" then take a ball bearing that we bored out for a slip fit over it. We would then silver braze the two parts together. A steel ball bearing is much harder than the original casting so it should outlive it, especially considering how much we baby our cars now--by actually lubricating everything!

Thank You David I have been contemplating how to go about working with these two different metals. I will be trying your idea of silver brazing them together this weekend.We also have discussed drilling and pining the ball in place once we are sure of the correct location for It along the newly milled shaft.

Craig, if you thread the ball onto the stem, an ideal pin to hold the ball in place would be a scotch screw. The thread in the ball will hold it in place, the scotch screw will stop it coming loose, and the whole procedure can be repeated at a later date if necessary. No welding/heat to be accounted for.

Allan from down under.

Thank you Allan I have a couple more of these early radius rods and we will be considering selling a few of the finished product if there is a market for them, and a price that’s fair to both parties.

Craig, if the sums work out, there is a need for the same process on later wishbones also. The market is wider than just the over axle type.
Allan from down under.

Somewhere on the www I saw years ago a post on how to do this . Lost the link in a crash. This was a step by step photo on doing it. Was going to try , but have not run out of good wishbones. Could not find it with a quick search. Dan

I have a couple more of the early radius rods and was thinking what is an acceptable amount of wear?

Dan Hatch wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 20, 2020 4:30 am

Somewhere on the www I saw years ago a post on how to do this . Lost the link in a crash. This was a step by step photo on doing it. Was going to try , but have not run out of good wishbones. Could not find it with a quick search. Dan

I found a couple of "fixes"
Contains pictures of fixing the ball end http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/41 ... 1406159419
This is one on fixing the socket http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29 ... 1191983186

That first one is what I was thinking of. The OPer used a ball bearing but had the aneal it to use it. I found some mild steel balls and brought some to try it but never got around to it. Thanks for the post and heads up. Dan

Thank You Frank for the old posts they both are very helpful. I am sure this has been said here many times , this forum is the most valuable thing for my dollar on the internet , Thank you to all that make this happen for all of us!