Update for today.. Those ball studs are gone! Pulling the drag link loose from the Pitman arm ennables the whole tie rod and steering arms assembly to be dragged out from under the truck. Of course it helps that I pulled the brakes and backing plates since I'm putting caliper brackets in their place.
But once the arms are out, you can work on them a lot easier. I used an air chisel with a pickle fork attachment to separate the new style drag link from the steering and third arm. It works pretty good with a little kroil ahead of time. Put an old nut on the end of the stud so you can give it a friendly whack while vibrating the pickle fork between the steering arm and the drag link. Note, if you do have the new style drag link, you will end up trashing to old seals and need new ones. I can't remember who was selling them, I think in urethane.
The ball studs came out very easy knowing how everyone else had dealt with them. I put the arms in the vise, removed the tie rod, and ground on the bottom to make a flat surface so the center could be located. I center punched that, and then drilled a pilot about 1/2" in the center, followed that with a 3/8" cobalt drill about the same depth. Then I took a die grinder and rotary file and slightly enlarged the outer bottom of the hole. Be careful doing this it does not take too much. then pop the ball end into a piece of 1" pipe firmly supported, Use a 5/16" pin punch and give a few taps. They came right out. The stock bore looks to be about 1/2."
Gotta find those seals, urethane would be the way to go for grease resistance. Just take your time.
Another thing:
There are several different arms. They are clearly stamped in the forgings. #3667229 is '46-'50, right. #3694223 is '51-'54, right. #3685753 is '47-'50 steering and third arm (left.) #3694229 is '51-'52, left. #3699683 is '53-'54 left. I had grabbed some from the shop floor that already had the studs removed, but then checked the numbers using the '29-'54 Master Parts Catalog . It's available online and is really handy to use, and can save you a lot of questions and time. Thanks Keith! You can send him a little Paypal too.
