UCA stripped at ball joint!

[standup303]

Ordered the expensive socket and finally got my UCA ball joint out and the UCA threads are completely flat! Anyone else ran into this? Guess I get to but some new UCA’s, son of a B! So tired of spending money on this car.

 

[Cuda416]

Clean it up, put the new one in and run some short beads around it to keep it in place. it's done all the time.

 

[Cuda416]

Also, I know exactly what you're talking about. I am an E-Body guy and knew nothing of early A's when we bought our 65 Valiant. Talk about a pain in the ***. It's been ridiculously rewarding though. Would I do it again; probably not. I'll stick with the more common versions. Hang in there, it will be fine.

 

[Arron tate]

Ordered the expensive socket and finally got my UCA ball joint out and the UCA threads are completely flat! Anyone else ran into this? Guess I get to but some new UCA’s, son of a B! So tired of spending money on this car.

Hello standup303
There are places where you can buy a sleeve and then cut out the old one and weld in a new one.... Replaced several myself over the years saving having to replace a control arm.

Steel Lower Ball Joint Sleeve, K727 Style 1960-66 Chrysler

This plain finish, mild steel ball joint sleeve is used to build or repair control arms. Screw in style. Item Details Fits 917-20036 lower ball joint 2.5" O.D. 2.020" I.D. 1" Height

www.speedwaymotors.com

Note: Pix for info only. You will need to find the correct one for your application.
Hope this helps.
Happy Mopar
Arron.

 

[72bluNblu]

The UCA’s weren’t threaded. The ball joint has threads, they cut their own when you thread them in.

If the new ball joint won’t torque down to spec that would indicate a worn out UCA. At that point you can either add some tack welds, as people do but I wouldn’t on my car, or replace the arms.

 

[-Boosted-]

Ordered the expensive socket and finally got my UCA ball joint out and the UCA threads are completely flat! Anyone else ran into this? Guess I get to but some new UCA’s, son of a B! So tired of spending money on this car.

View attachment 1716079021

View attachment 1716079022

lol, same thing happened to me. That's when I said screw it and ordered new UCA's with ball joints and bushings already installed. Actually ended up cheaper too as they came with lower ball joints as well.

 

[wawarnick]

Hello standup303
There are places where you can buy a sleeve and then cut out the old one and weld in a new one.... Replaced several myself over the years saving having to replace a control arm.

Steel Lower Ball Joint Sleeve, K727 Style 1960-66 Chrysler

This plain finish, mild steel ball joint sleeve is used to build or repair control arms. Screw in style. Item Details Fits 917-20036 lower ball joint 2.5" O.D. 2.020" I.D. 1" Height

www.speedwaymotors.com

Note: Pix for info only. You will need to find the correct one for your application.
Hope this helps.
Happy Mopar
Arron.

View attachment 1716079035

Thank you. I have a couple of disc brake UCA, I can repair

 

[jos51700]

You don't need to order anything.

Just jam in the new upper ball joint until it's seated, and tack weld it in, as mentioned.

I'm not a fan of it but it does work, very well.

Fyi those are "lower" ball joint thread inserts linked earlier. I'm not even sure how that's possible. But I wouldn't buy em if they can't call it the right thing or have designed a thing to fix a non issue

 

[Cuda416]

You don't need to order anything.

Just jam in the new upper ball joint until it's seated, and tack weld it in, as mentioned.

I'm not a fan of it but it does work, very well.

Fyi those are "lower" ball joint thread inserts linked earlier. I'm not even sure how that's possible. But I wouldn't buy em if they can't call it the right thing or have designed a thing to fix a non issue

Those things look like what you'd use if you were fabbing some tubular units

 

[Arron tate]

You don't need to order anything.

Just jam in the new upper ball joint until it's seated, and tack weld it in, as mentioned.
I'm not a fan of it but it does work, very well.
Fyi those are "lower" ball joint thread inserts linked earlier. I'm not even sure how that's possible. But I wouldn't buy em if they can't call it the right thing or have designed a thing to fix a non issue

Hello jos51700
FYI
As noted in My reply the Picture and screen grab was "for info only" and I Noted "You will need to find the correct one for your application"
And as a Note... Most ball joints have a Teflon insert inside that the Ball rides on. Any type of Welding "Tack Weld" to the ball joint could damage that Teflon and cause a premature failure
Happy Mopar
Arron.

 

[72bluNblu]

You don't need to order anything.

Just jam in the new upper ball joint until it's seated, and tack weld it in, as mentioned.

I'm not a fan of it but it does work, very well.

Fyi those are "lower" ball joint thread inserts linked earlier. I'm not even sure how that's possible. But I wouldn't buy em if they can't call it the right thing or have designed a thing to fix a non issue

Hello jos51700
FYI
As noted in My reply the Picture and screen grab was "for info only" and I Noted "You will need to find the correct one for your application"
And as a Note... Most ball joints have a Teflon insert inside that the Ball rides on. Any type of Welding "Tack Weld" to the ball joint could damage that Teflon and cause a premature failure
Happy Mopar
Arron.

For a large upper ball joint application this would be the correct sleeve

Steel Upper Ball Joint Sleeve, K772 Style

The one linked earlier is in fact for lower ball joints, but the application varies A LOT. Like that ball joint came on stuff from 1960 all the way up to 1994 and was used on everything from Chrysler New Yorkers up to D350's. Ultimately, it can be used on just about anything that used that size ball joint, regardless of what you call it. A little imagination goes a long way.

And yeah, I wouldn't waste my time installing one of those sleeves into a stock UCA. I'm sure it would work, you could use a hole saw or something to remove the old lip and weld in that new heavier duty sleeve. But unless you were doing some kind of racing that required factory (ish) UCA's that would be a colossal waste of time compared to just buying a new tubular UCA with better geometry.

 

[wawarnick]

Steel Upper Ball Joint Sleeve, K772 Style

This plain finish, mild steel ball joint sleeve is used to build or repair control arms. Screw in style. Item Details Fits 910-34323 upper ball joint2.25" O.D.0.210" Thickness1" Height

www.speedwaymotors.com

 

[jos51700]

Hello jos51700
FYI
As noted in My reply the Picture and screen grab was "for info only" and I Noted "You will need to find the correct one for your application"
And as a Note... Most ball joints have a Teflon insert inside that the Ball rides on. Any type of Welding "Tack Weld" to the ball joint could damage that Teflon and cause a premature failure
Happy Mopar
Arron.

Like I said, I'm not a fan, but it works.