Re: {Chrysler 300} Ball Joint Follies

Bob Haag

On Sep 18, 2023, at 10:35 AM, 'James Douglas' via Chrysler 300 Club International <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

John,

Interesting. My 1968 Moog catalog only shows one ball joint for the upper or the lower. Nothing about two sizes depending on if the control arm is new or not.

I did go reading last night on the internet and a lot of people seem to have run into this issue. On all MOPAR’s.

One man who said he worked in a front-end shop for yeas said that his boss told all the employees that any MOPAR that came in for ball joint must be given four small spot welds after the new ball joint was installed or they would be fired from the job. Seems he had issues with them in a liability sort of way.

Since I am rebuilding a set of control arms to swap on the car and they are on the bench, I am wondering if I should sand off 4 little spots on each arm-joint and place a small weld on three or four places to make sure they do not move.

Thoughts anyone?

James

From: John Grady <jkg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2023 03:59
To: James Douglas <jdd@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Chrysler 300 List Server (chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: {Chrysler 300} Ball Joint Follies

hi James , you gave a well known problem

.

There are two ball joint OD , one is smaller to use with a new control arm .

The other is slightly larger OD that was made that way to cut new threads on top of the previously cut threads in a replacement situation .

The zero clearance ( interference fit) and torque force when cutting new threads is apparently required to hold it in .

I fought all this many years ago when putting later (67 ?) larger Chrysler lower joints in a 57 dodge control arm, to gain 67 police disc brake spindles . Upper was a fit stock . Plus the threads do not “ look” like a tap , that confused me too .

I had reinforced the 57 control arms outer end with a welded in ring of steel , precision cut a hole in that assembly after measuring a new 67

control arm , had my “ new “ ball joints ( only ones sold are generally replacements ) no way were they going in .

I thought steel got hardened by weld etc etc .

But turned out I just needed the right size ball joint , a 3/4 drive and breaker bar and a pipe .

I so envy Ford guys , it bolts in . This way is simply dumb imho .

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 17, 2023, at 9:49 PM, 'James Douglas' via Chrysler 300 Club International <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

You know, sometimes this hobby is just not fun.

I have NOS upper control arms. I have two new ball joints. NOS control arms do not have any threading in them, the first ball joints installed cuts the threads. I have the miller socket for the ball joint.

So, I go to thread it in, and it will not go down even using my impact driver. It goes about 75% in and then will not go in more. So, I pull it out, take a small wire brush and clean out any swarf and try again. I then add Rapid Tap oil. I end up getting it in and down and torqued to 125 after four or five cyclers of in-out-clean-again. I pull it out and clean up the thread sone last time and then put it in and torque it. Ok. One down.

Now, I take the second control arm. This time I go to put it in, and it feels like mush. I can get it down just using the torque wrench. It seats but will not torque down and I can see it starting to dig into the flange on the control arm. I pull it out and it has barely cut in any threads. I did not measure the two smooth bores on the NOS control arms to see if they were the same.

So, I happen to have one NOS ball joint that came with one the arms I got from Dave. I fish it out and go to screw it in and it goes in hard like the first one. Not quite as hard. I do the in and out thing and wipe the swarf and then get it down all the way. I then torque it and it torques down fine.

The only real explanation is that the Q&A on the ball new ball joint threads is bad. One ball joint is either deeper than the other or the NOS control arm bores were not very close. I would guess it was the ball joint is the problem given that the NOS ball joint went in fine.

I am bothering to write this so that people know. You could get a set of new ball joints and screw them in, and they may not torque to 125. If someone uses the impact driver and does not double check it with a good torque wrench, you could end up with stripped threads in the control arm.

Beware.

James

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