The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk How to outsmart the old stlye steering arms?

I have the old style steering arms with the worn out ball on my 48 1/2 t truck. Anybody got ideas on how to "press out" the ball in order to use the newer style Tie Rod Ends with the stud and nut.

There are a couple of Tech Tips on this topic. Check them out and post questions.

The secret is at the bottom of the tech tip where it talks about the countersunk hole. If you cut a relief in that area it will come out a lot easier.

There's a couple of pics of the job in my photobucket link at the bottom of this post. Mine came apart with no problems, a little kroil and big hammer and punch, and they were out.

I drill a smaller hole on center, then open it up with
a larger drill, finally remove the part that is in
the chamfer with large 120° included angle
countersink taking care not to get into the arm:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/121615915/large
It taps out easy then and there is no damage to the arm.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/121613827

DG

....also pics in my photobucket of me doing it on my 52 so you should be covered

Thanks guys for the info and the link to the "Tech Tips". Problem solved. Drilled each of the balls out with a 1/4" drill, then upsized each hole to 7/16". The rollover/flare on the back side was ground off then a large punch and hammer was used to drive the balls off, leaving a nice 1/2" dia hole for the new tie rod ends.

The Drag link balls left a larger dia hole -havent measured them yet. Now I will have to either order a new Drag link or if i get real lucky find one at a Swap Meet. Will have to go with the '54 and later style Drag Link. Anybody out there got one.