Have a 1971 dart swinger. Doing a disk brake conversion and went and mocked up the spi does and noticed the lower ball joint is hitting the lca. My old ball joints do not have that little nub like these ball joints do. Can I just grind some of it off or am I over looking something.
Disk brake conversion, ball joint hitting lca
- Thread starter milo123
- Start date
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Why not wait until the tie rods are connected before deciding to grind?
ir3333
Well-Known Member
yes..I always grind about 1/8" off the "stop" for more turning radius
JDMopar
Well-Known Member
I had that happen years ago when I added BBP disc brakes to a Duster. I mismatched parts, is what caused it. I used 74 Swinger BBP spindles on 72 LCA's with sway bar tabs because I had the LCA's and the sway bar laying around from a car I junked out. Car wouldn't turn in a 40 acre field! I ground the nubs off and it worked better, but still wasn't as good as using 73> LCA's.
moparlvr166
Well-Known Member
When I added BBP disks from a 73+ a body to my 65 Barracuda back in the day as soon as I went for a road test, I remembered the article I read a few years earlier you need to trim the turn stop nub on the lower control arm ball joint 3/8 or it won't turn very well, so I measured the old parts and confirmed trimming about 3/8 was needed, worked fine after that.
Yup, that is in fact the the steering stop on the lower ball joint, and it is supposed to be there.
I actually had the opposite problem, with the wheels being able to turn so far that they were contacting the frame while I was running a wheel combo others had without that issue. I measured a half a dozen different lower ball joints, and found that the height of that steering stop varied greatly depending on the manufacturer of the lower ball joint. Some barely had a nub at all, others had fairly tall ones like the one you picture.
So, given that the steering stop height is so variable by the manufacturer of the lower ball joint, I would just trim it down if it’s getting in the way too soon.
I actually had the opposite problem, with the wheels being able to turn so far that they were contacting the frame while I was running a wheel combo others had without that issue. I measured a half a dozen different lower ball joints, and found that the height of that steering stop varied greatly depending on the manufacturer of the lower ball joint. Some barely had a nub at all, others had fairly tall ones like the one you picture.
So, given that the steering stop height is so variable by the manufacturer of the lower ball joint, I would just trim it down if it’s getting in the way too soon.
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