First, I apologize if this is the wrong place to post this. It looked like the best place.
I need to replace the ball on the drag link for my 1950 Chevy pickup, 3100. The ball is very flattened out. I'm guessing I can either grind out the back and use a press to push the ball out. Or do I need to press the other direction?
The holes the balls are pressed into have a chamfer on both sides, so drilling a shallow hole just smaller than the shank diameter helps give that material that's been swaged into the chamfer somewhere to go and makes it easier to push the shank out. You can push them out either way, either grinding the back side flush or cut the ball off and grind that side flush. The drill your hole and use your press or BFH. I used a ball joint press that I have with a bolt smaller than the hole I drilled as a pushing tool. The BFH method can get a bit hairy if your impact is not dead on. Mine was about the same as yours, looking like a football if you look at the end of the ball. I pressed the new ball in place, then heated the opposite end and peened it back into the chamfer with a big ball peen hammer. Or you can run a weld bead around it. There are also bolt-in replacement balls, with thread and nut on the back side.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Just a minor nitpick- - - - -the part in your picture with the ball is the Pitman arm. The drag link is the rod that attaches to it. Once you get the new ball installed, be sure to get a rebuild kit for the drag link with new semi-circular pieces that clamp over the ball, and the spring that holds them tight against it. Although the plug in the end looks like a big straight-slot screw, there's a special tool called a "drag link socket" (Thanks, Captain Obvious!) that's the right tool to use. Have fun! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Well, it is the ball that goes in the drag link, therefore could be called the "drag link ball", even though it is on the pitman arm. I had to go buy one of those "drag link sockets" to deal with mine. There's one in the socket set down at my mom's place in California, but it wasn't readily available. I tried to get my sister to look for it, but she couldn't quite get what I was trying to describe. It took some heat to get those drag link plugs out. But everything is rebuilt on mine now.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
