Upper ball joint measurement

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niceolddart

niceolddart

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I have a set of UCAs from a 74 Duster drum brake car. I was told that ALL 73 & up A bodies have large ball joints as opposed to 72 & down cars. Is the tapered shaft that goes into the spindle bigger in diameter than the 72s & down? How do I know for sure which ball joints I have. According to RockAuto, the Moog part #s are different from 72 & down to 73 up cars.
I need to know for sure before I can sell them honestly.
Thanks
 
yes, 73+ ball joints are larger. the hex (square), the thread and the tapered shaft are all larger.

how do you know if you have big joints? measure the hex (square)

we covered this before:
[WANTED] - 1973 to 1976 upper a arms

now, that being said, these cars are 50+ years old and anything could have been swapped in there. so just because you have 74 pieces, verify they are in fact the correct units.
 
junkyardhero said:
yes, 73+ ball joints are larger. the hex (square), the thread and the tapered shaft are all larger.

how do you know if you have big joints? measure the hex (square)

we covered this before:
[WANTED] - 1973 to 1976 upper a arms

now, that being said, these cars are 50+ years old and anything could have been swapped in there. so just because you have 74 pieces, verify they are in fact the correct units.
Click to expand...
OK, so the ball joint sockets that measure just OVER 2" are Full size truck & van units? I see only 2 Mopar socket sizes, 1-59/64" & 2-9/64", that's why I'm confused on this.
I just want to be sure.
 
yes. the BIG ball joint is 1-59/64 and the SMALL is 1.809

anything over a 2" joint won't physically fit the arm (unless it was frankenstein'd in there somehow) so that's likely for a truck.

the small joint socket is proto 6549-L (mac and snap on sell one as well, i don't know the PN's off hand).

you won't find them together in a set unless it's from a specialty seller like mancini or american muscle/car shop inc on ebay
 
junkyardhero said:
yes. the BIG ball joint is 1-59/64 and the SMALL is 1.809

anything over a 2" joint won't physically fit the arm (unless it was frankenstein'd in there somehow) so that's likely for a truck.

the small joint socket is proto 6549-L (mac and snap on sell one as well, i don't know the PN's off hand).

you won't find them together in a set unless it's from a specialty seller like mancini or american muscle/car shop inc on ebay
Click to expand...
Thanks for your help on this, AGAIN. Now I'm sure of what I have.
 
So will 6549 work for earlier ball joints? (1969) I'm looking on ebay but just see part numbers a no measurement....
 
The following sockets are for the small early ball joints:
Snap on s6302
Mac sc52
Proto 6549
Your choice on what brand you want.
All are on eBay.
 
just an FYI, ball joint sockets are a mixed bag between 1/2" drive and 3/4" drive so double check before you pull the trigger and make sure you have an adapter if you need it!
 
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