cdrod

I think my RH front spindle is shot!! I purchased some Howe tall ball joints and SPC adjustable upper control arms for my resto-mod project. I planned to reuse the stock spindles, but when I did a trial fitment of the balljoints into the spindles there seems to be some play. I can wiggle the top ball joint front-to-back and there looks like some scoring inside the taper. The bottom taper looks really 'wallered' out but it seems to fit tighter than the upper. I'm not sure the taper is straight, kinda has an hourglass shape to it.

Does this look right? This is the lower ball joint stud.


Here is a close-up of the lower.



This is the upper ball joint stud. The taper looks better than the lower but isn't a tight fit.
[IMG]https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums/attachment.php?
attachmentid=89337&stc=1&d=1396923562[/IMG]

cdrod

Tt

oldcutlass

If the taper is worn to the point that the ball joint will not lock in place when tightened down, then I would replace it.

cdrod

Do you think I could use one of these tapered reamers to clean up the spindle? The bottom hole on the spindle looks pretty bad - might have to remove too much material to get it true again.

oldcutlass

If its already wobbly when you tighten it all the reamer will do is make it worse.

Octania

Pray tell how does a tapered hole get wollered out?
Properly tightened, the two parts never move vs. each other.
I suspect you have incompatible tapers on your two pieces
And, why is the ball joint bare naked? They dismantle? Never seen that voodoo before.

Professur

Ball joints dismantle themselves all the time. Usually at 40mph immediately after your wheel says hello to a pothole.

Octania

then clean and polish themselves, evidently.

cdrod

When I disassembled the front suspension the lower ball joint stud was so loose in the spindle that it would turn with the rusty castle nut as I tried to remove it. I had to use a grinder to separate it from the pressed-in mount and then clamped the end of the stud is a vise to get the castle nut off. I've attached a pic of the LCA bushing - totally blown out. I suspect the car was driven with trashed lower ball joints for quite a while.

I'm installing taller ball joints from Howe Racing to improve the camber curve of the front suspension (the reason for the "bare naked" ball joint stud in my pics). They are stronger than stock Moog parts and they are rebuildable. They are used in circle track racing because the factory ball joints will break in a hard collision. I'm gonna look for another set of spindles before trying to salvage this one.

Professur

Seriously tho ... those ones come apart so you can piece together exactly what you want. I like the idea of a rebuildable ball joint
http://www.howeracing.com/c-581-press-in-gm-lowers.aspx

cdrod

I've really done my homework on the front suspension geometry. The stock geometry causes the tires to lean out in a hard turn (+camber) which is the exact opposite of what you want. The tires should to lean in (-camber) for better cornering. To get rid of the stock positive camber curve you need to raise the upper pivot point about 1-1/4". For the upper ball joints I'm using a +0.9" taller upper stud and for the lower I'm using a +0.3" taller stud. This combination will raise the upper pivot point +1.2". The tall lower ball joint has the added benefit of reducing the bump-steer inherent in the stock steering design as well. I'll be posting pics in my Major Builds thread when I reassemble the chassis.

oldcutlass

What may have happened is the old ball joint was installed incorrectly and then over time it froze and was turning inside the taper. The friction removed metal from the tapered area not allowing a new ball joint to seat.


On a side note, Moog ball joints don't generally snap. I have heard of some imports do that.


Camber has not been an issue on cars that are maintained at the stock height. The issue with the stock setup was not being able to get a lot of castor.