TrailChaser Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 I have broken about a dozen ball joints for my upper control arms. I finally decided to do something about it.(The joys of being a machinist) The main reason I was breaking them is because of the severe angle the lift I have puts them in. The ball rides on the edge of the socket instead of the middle. It was bad enough that the shaft was indented from hitting the body of the ball joint so much. Here is my fix that I made with the help of Mike at work. Along with the results. In this pic you can see the problem... I had to use 6 washers were to adjust the camber angle. It was shimmed almost 1inch. Now... Flat against the frame is perfect. (luck not calculations) What I used... Here's a before and after... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrailChaser Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 As for the tires... When it was shimmed out, and the upper balljoint was not broken the tire was level. Here's some pics of the camber after the spacers went in but BEFORE I took out the shims. After I took the shims(washers) out the camber was perfect on the drivers side and a little bit off on the passenger side with no shims at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 I like the idea, but are the BJ bolt heads sitting flat or is only a small part of them touching the UCA? If they aren't flat you might run into issues of them either loosening or sheering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowTied Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Wow! nice work! Are you going to start selling these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPath88 Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 I like the idea, but are the BJ bolt heads sitting flat or is only a small part of them touching the UCA? If they aren't flat you might run into issues of them either loosening or sheering. Or possibly making a second shim to allow them to bold flat there... David, you do know that if this proves to work out in the long run.. you probably opened yourself up to requests *As reflected in the post above* But, Good Job, I hope this does prove to be a permanent fix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Looks like an interesting idea. The Superlift/Roughcountry UCA's that are angled to help with ball joint, which I think would have alleviated your need for those. Correct me if I'm wrong, but those are AC UCA's yes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrailChaser Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 Ya, They're AC's crapola "adjusted angle UCA" BS... Adjusted about a half a degree if any.lol This is just a bandaid till I can do the SAS. I have to keep this thing drivable till then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Yeah, they don't seem angled very much, especially not compared to the others. Oh well, as you said, "until the SAS".... Your solution looks good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 I finally decided to do something about it.(The joys of being a machinist) I'm glad I hear that from another machinist. It's not what you can fix, or even how. It's more like what first and when... Those wedges look very nice, the milled OD profile looks great! What angle are they? I like the idea, but are the BJ bolt heads sitting flat or is only a small part of them touching the UCA? If they aren't flat you might run into issues of them either loosening or sheering. The trick here is to 'dimple' the top of the holes with say a 3/8" ball mill for a 1/4" bolt. Then make washers with a 3/8 radius on one side |) and the bolt will always find center and sit flat, holding even torque. Or possibly making a second shim to allow them to bold flat there... Bad idea. When you torque the bolt, the shim will try to spin... Any error can leave you with a loose bolt when you least expect it. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPath88 Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Bad idea. When you torque the bolt, the shim will try to spin... Any error can leave you with a loose bolt when you least expect it.B Right, which is why my thinking was more along the lines of a single one to cover the entire surface above the UCA. Makes things more complicated for sure, and aside from that I am not sold on having so many pieces involved to get the job done anyway. properly designed UCA's are by far the best fix.. next to the planned SAS of course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Sorry Red, I misunderstood... Yes, that would be a valid solution. Of course, like you said, having the UCA made correctly in the first place is the way to go. I won't even touch the SAS idea as I'm still irritated that I can't justify it for my old Pathy. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 I like the idea, but are the BJ bolt heads sitting flat or is only a small part of them touching the UCA? If they aren't flat you might run into issues of them either loosening or sheering. Ball-Seat washers are a good friend when it comes to uneaven surfaces. For others w/ less toys you can take a 1/2" bj spacer from AC's and cut/sand it @ an ange and get the same part. Superlift/Roughcountry UCA's that are angled to help with ball joint, which I think would have alleviated your need for those. Correct me if I'm wrong, but those are AC UCA's yes? Does anyone know if the calmini uca's correct this angle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPath88 Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Ball-Seat washers are a good friend when it comes to uneaven surfaces. For others w/ less toys you can take a 1/2" bj spacer from AC's and cut/sand it @ an ange and get the same part. Does anyone know if the calmini uca's correct this angle? Yes they do, AC arms are the only ones that do not... Even JCR (no longer available) corrected the angles. But calmini are known to introduce their own problems.. search around here, you will find a lot on all the available arms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Damn, man. You need some bumpstops. No wonder BJ's are flying off your truck. hehe Nice work on the angled spacers!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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