Since the first rides I noticed play and clunks from the steering links ball joints, and the dust boots were very old and cracky as well. Took the links off and went shopping for similar sized ball joints.
Closest in size I found was this one for an old Ford truck we had locally called F-1000. Unfortunately, with that truck being IFS, there was just one ball joint thread direction and I wanted ball joints that worked in pairs, one threading left, one threading right. Also, being this Ford a very old truck around here, I was only being able to find parts with far from OEM quality.
20200617_130753.jpg
I decided then to go a tad bigger, and picked Mercedes-Benz delivery trucks ball joints. They can be easily found here, cost is low, and you can find OEM quality parts. Oh, and they work in pairs just like I wanted.
20200619_145748.jpg
Side by side comparison. Just a tad bigger. It doesn't seem in the picture though.
20200619_150008.jpg
Trying on the knuckle, the tapered pin is just a hair wider than the original one.
20200619_150350.jpg
20200619_150339.jpg
Now, to find the means to widen the holes of pitman and knuckles. Searching around I learned that the tool for the job was a tapered end mill, a machining shop tool, not a shed tool. And it was bloody expensive! Kind of tool the machinist buy to produce 100s parts a day otherwise it doesn't pay for itself. Ok, so I would have to pay someone to do it for me then. Ringed several machining shops in town and none had the tool. Turned out that mostly only car parts manufacturers used expensive tools like that on production line kind of environment. Time to get creative...
I have talked to A LOT of people about this and ended up discovering, in another state where most of the brazilian car part manufacturers are, a place that buys industrial used metal to re-sell or on a last resort, recycle. They have steam pipes, high pressure valves, a lot of cool stuff that you can spend a day there admiring and... tools. Enlisted a friend that lives some 50km from the place to go there investigate this for me and he sent me these pictures. Jackpot! He paid about the price of a six-pack for a pair of milling tools!
20200812-WA0037.jpg 20200812-WA0036.jpg
Took tools to the machine shop that did all the PU suspension bushes I am using on the GQ for the guy to test them for me. I was not sure if they would cut or not, maybe they could be dull. It turned out that they were cutting metal like butter. The guy's theory is that in a big industry that produces 1000 parts a day, they have to replace the tools before they dull, otherwise they may end up with 1000 out of spec parts at the end of a work day. Also, as my plan was to use the tool in the car without taking the knuckles out, the guy gave me this sample cast iron block with two straight/parallel holes for me to practice, because according to him, the tool was cutting cast iron so easily that I could end up ruining my knuckles.
20201216_185401.jpg
20201216_185406.jpg
I was able to make the tapered pin seat properly on the test block after using the tool. All good.
20201216_185509.jpg
I have lost the pictures of the mechanical tubes I have bought to do the new steering links, they were massive, very thick wall. Anyway, after machining, they were looking like this:
20231219_184745.jpg
20231219_184813.jpg
20231219_184822.jpg
I like shiny stuff so I had to zinc plate them.
20240118_115611.jpg
20240124_121920.jpg
20240124_214742.jpg
20240124_214807.jpg
Putting the milling tool to work:
20240126_193244.jpg
This small amount of material on the floor is all it takes to fit the new ball joint tapered pin.
20240126_201149.jpg
Pitman arm before the milling tool. The top of the pin sits about half way into the castle nut.
20240126_202719.jpg
Pitman arm after the milling tool.
20240126_204501.jpg
Final result:
20240126_230954.jpg
20240126_205751.jpg
And the reason for me wanting the ball joint ends to have left and right threads, for anyone that don't know, now I can loosen-up the clamps and turn the bars one direction to shorten it and the other to lengthen it. Easy peasy to do alignments.
Reply With Quote