replacing upper control arm

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hampton123

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Ok so i trashed the threads for my ball joint. Do i have any options other than replacing the control arm. Do i have to do both sides? Any tips or tricks and suggested manufacturers?
 
Lot's of people just tack weld the ball joint in a couple of places when the threads get boogered up, in the replacment of the ball joint.
Or just find another pair, and then install them.
What year car you working on anyway?
That will determine what UCA that you will be needing.
72 and earlier.
or
73-76
If you go the replaement route, i can help you out.
I have UCA's in stock, that i sell to members here, and thru eBay.
 
Are you talking about the threads on the ball joint that thread into the arm or the threads where the nut goes on to hold it to the knuckle?
 
Hampton, I bought those UCA's and the ball joint popped out on the highway. Luckily, I didn't lose control and kill myself and my daughter. They are cheap metal with cheap ball joints. If you plan on upgrading to disc brakes in the future and have an ealier A with the smaller ball joints this might be a good time to convert to the post-72? (someone correct me) ones with the larger ball joint.
 
I know the 73+ cars never had SBJ uppers discussion comes up. Here's a post from another site and some interesting stuff from a parts book. There might have been some SBJ uppers installed on cars after 1972 model year after all.

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Had a 75 Dart Sport /6 3-spd with 9" drums and SBC wheels. Had the small upper ball joints too.
My 74 FPM shows for V/L cars
UCA w/dics 3402702-3
UCA w/drums 3722460-1
 
I was under the impression that the threads are almost always screwed up. After years of rust and contamination when you pull the old ball joints out the metal gets all boogered.
 
I sell this lightweight and adjustable solution for 87cents +shipping. Ball joints and bushings not included
IMG_2219.jpg
 
Lonewolf3165 said:
I'd certainly give them a try before I'd weld the ball joint in.
Click to expand...

What?!? Eighty plus dollars for a new one instead of trying to fix the one you have???

I have a completely new front end from Master Power brakes. I drove about ten miles to the alignment shop where my buddy was going to align it. When we got it on the machine it wouldn't align on the right side. Closer inspection revealed that the brand new ball joint had pulled away from the brand new upper control arm.

We spent about thirty minutes pulling the arm and cranking the ball joint back into the arm. My buddy put four equally spaced welds around the ball joint, and we put it back together.

That was 500 miles ago and I haven't had a bit of trouble since then. I slipped him an extra $20 for his trouble. I would imagine a muffler or welding shop would do the same thing if you brought the control arm in to them.
 
I'll go one bettter - I had a ball joint pop out of my 70 Dart with only 33,000 miles on it. The threads were stripped, so we screwed a new ball joint in snug and made 4 tack welds on it and it is still in place 35,000 miles and 10 years later. Why would you buy repacement UCAs now when you can get years of service and trash the original UCAs when your new ball joints wear out? That should give you years to score a great set at a swap meet and put them away for the future. BE SURE THAT YOU CLEAN THE UCA AND MAKE SURE THAT IT DIDN"T CRACK THROUGH THE BALL JOINT RING BEFORE USING THIS SOLUTION!!!
 
hemi71x said:
Lot's of people just tack weld the ball joint in a couple of places when the threads get boogered up, in the replacment of the ball joint.
Or just find another pair, and then install them.
What year car you working on anyway?
That will determine what UCA that you will be needing.
72 and earlier.
or
73-76
I you go the replaement route, i can help you out.
I have UCA's in stock, that i sell to members here, and thru eBay.
Click to expand...
This brings up a question I have a 70 dart slant six car. I put a spool mount k member in and used my original upper control arms. Is this going to work?
 
crackedback said:
I know the 73+ cars never had SBJ uppers discussion comes up. Here's a post from another site and some interesting stuff from a parts book. There might have been some SBJ uppers installed on cars after 1972 model year after all.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Had a 75 Dart Sport /6 3-spd with 9" drums and SBC wheels. Had the small upper ball joints too.
My 74 FPM shows for V/L cars
UCA w/dics 3402702-3
UCA w/drums 3722460-1
Click to expand...
yes /6 drum brake cars had small balljoints till end of a body run:read2:
 
I had the same issue with my 72, as I removed the old upper ball joint I saw that someone had used pipe dope to make it stay in...I put in the new one and just as it started to seat all the way down...it spun free due to the threads being stripped in the A arm, just tacked it on 4 sides and 10,000 miles later its still there..
 
Ends up that my 73 has small ball joints. Upper control Arm cleaned up nicely and was crack free so I welded the new ball joint in.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
This is not correct. All 73 up a bodies have large ball joints from the factory no matter if it is disc or drum.
Click to expand...

Look at my post...

If it had a 9" drum, it may have got SBJ. They are not common, but, they are out there. I've seen some 73 cars with SBJ 9", never anything later. One friend in Colorado has the car mentioned in my post. If it's been swapped, they did both sides and everything... He says it looked like it left the factory that way.

Crazy deal, the databooks show only 10" drums up front after 1973.
 
Why the listing in the 74 parts manual for a drum and a disc UCA?

That's all I'm saying. If they were ALL BBJ, they should be only one UCA number listed.
 
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