The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk removing balls from steering arms

Just a little note...For anyone who is THINKING about trying to remove the balls from the steering arms, DON't even think about trying it.LOL.

I have a 52 chevy 1/2 ton. i have the entire front end suspension torn apart. Not even the KingPins gave me as much trouble as those balls. ended up giving up and going to a machine shop. best $50.00 i've spent in a long time. Although in the "tech tips", it gives a great description regarding removing the balls for the old ball-in-socket joints for the tie-rods unless you have a press, your wasting your time.

The peened ball stem:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/121615912/large
The chamfered and drilled ball stem:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/121615915/large
Drill pilot hole on center line, then chamfer with large chamfering tool,
finally punch it out easily with drift punch.

New balls installed:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/121617836/large
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

What Denny said...once you understand the size of the peened over section it is relatively easy to get them out. I used a 1/2" drill then ground the chamfered area with a dremmel

I just looked at the installation instructions for my modern style replacement tie rod ends for my 38. To remove the old steering ball, drill out the back of the ball stud with a 3/8 bit to a depth of 1/16" and then remove the ball. It then advises to torque the nut on the new stud tighter than required for a tapered stud. The surprising part is the nut is a plain nut with no provision for a cotter pin. If I use these I will use a jamb nut too.

Danhami I'm surprised to hear you're having trouble with that. When I did that job on my '36 Chevy pickup all it took was drilling out the peened over section of the stud and then knocking it out with a punch. It was snug like a rivet but not seized.

Did the shop that did the job for you explain what the problem was?

i didn't ask. all i know is that he got them out. LOL

I had trouble with mine. I had to heat the balls up with a torch till they were glowing like cherry's to beat them out with a punch. that was even after i had gotten rid of the peened over part

This task is completed for Dan, but just as a tip for anyone tackling this somewhere in the future I’ve got a few comments.
Heating up the stud is going in the wrong direction, you need to shrink the stud, not expand it. The stud is set much like the rivets that were used in structural steel only these were done cold. Swaging the buck-tail does two things, one it expands the shank to completely fill the hole and two it forms a shop-head on the buck-tail. So drilling the center relives the outward pressure of the cylindrical shank. The shop-head is driven into a very large counter sunk in the arm so just drilling the center still leaves a ‘head’ on the shank which will make it very difficult to driver it out.
After the center is drilled out, if you use a large counter sink, (1”) to relieve the head the ball can be driven out quite easily.

A word of caution is also due here: Heating a forged steering component is a very dangerous practice. Steering knuckles and arms gain their strength from the forging process. Heating a forged part will anneal it rendering them much softer/weaker than the originally design criteria.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I did what Denny said, drilled out the portion of the ball stud that was peened into the counter sunk area in the steering arm. I did not have to use Denny's other "trick" in this case.



I totally believe that good tools pay for themselves many times over in saved shop fees and in having the convenience of being able to do the job right now at home and than continue on with the project.

Ray

PS: An apparently hopelessly seized hardened dowel, that is too hard to be drilled, can be removed by piercing lengthwise with a cutting torch and then it can be easily pressed out. That technique could be applied to king pins and any other hardened part.