Lower control arm balljoint replacement moog

[oldscutlasswagon]

Here is some information I wish I had known a couple weeks ago when ordering parts. I've been rebuilding my front suspension, and everything went well. That is until I saved the lower BJ's for last. Moog balljoints come in 6145 and 6145t with t being a slightly oversized body and supposedly a more durable internal design. I had no idea this was a thing...

If I knew this I would have gone for the original style, because my LC arms were fine, and after trying to use a rented balljoint tool (no success) I used my buddy's press. As soon as they stopped going in, I stopped and they were nowhere near done. We noticed later on that my buddy's cheap harbor freight press actually bent a little.

The factory bjs were not splined and these 6145t's are, and my attempt at pressing them in made the splines gouge the arms to a degree. The bjs are fine/undamaged. The bjs never went in place, and now I have to decide what to do. I have read of people using the 6145t's with no problem, and I measured them vs the originals with the t's being about .020" larger. Seems like a lot to me...

Should I sand the arms to clean them up, then just get them pressed in by a machinist? I am now considering welding the balljoints to the arms once they are pressed in for extra security, because there's no way in hell I am buying new stuff after finishing rebuilding everything. If I get another 80,000 miles out of these parts that's fine with me.

What do ya'll think?

 

[kalidromos13]

I replaced my friends lower balljoints for his S-10 with a press although he went with proforged taller ball joints, i experienced something similar. The balljoints were a pain to get in and on one arm they started going in crooked which made the hole egg shaped. After breaking an arbor plate and watching the arm fly out we managed to get it to sit flush (pretty sure now, we were doing something wrong...). The control arm was pretty beat up, but we installed it and hes had no issues with it....maybe just keep pressing it in...it will go eventually.
After doing all that for my friend, i decided to buy new control arms because i wasnt about to do that again haha

 

[pontiacgp]

on an interference fit .020 is a huge difference

 

[pagrunt]

Those oversized bjs are for arms that had alot of bj replacements or blow out failure that wore the mount hole out.

 

[oldscutlasswagon]

I am thinking I am going to touch up the high points of the arms and then press them and weld them for added security. I don't want to have to buy new stuff again.

 

[307 Regal]

As far as having splines, I've yet to install ball joints that haven't had them so I'm not surprised yours have them too.
As far as getting crooked, that's a common problem with installation that I've run into each time I do it. I usually stop and re-position the assembly as many times as necessary (just 2 or 3 times) to keep the LBJ inserting evenly.

Now as far as whether or not they are too big to be safe is outside my knowledge, and I've been trusting enough (or rather careless enough) not to measure mine when putting them in. But I'd imagine that if you did get them fully inserted then I don't know why you'd really have to weld them unless you're reinforcing the lower A-arm. Both compression and rebound of the wheel in theory should only pull the LBJ against the lower A-arm. Whether that be the spindle yanking the pin during compression or the spring pushing the A-arm against the base of the joint. That's just my conjecture though.

 

[Opie Knievel]

I am thinking I am going to touch up the high points of the arms and then press them and weld them for added security. I don't want to have to buy new stuff again.

You said the ball joints were unharmed, why not exchange them for the regular size ball joints?

 

[oldscutlasswagon]

When looking online at parts I came across people saying the t's had some improvement made to them in terms of strength. Plus with the arms gouged by the splines I'm afraid the other ones wouldn't fit tightly. I am going to see what my local machinist thinks.

 

[pontiacgp]

I am thinking I am going to touch up the high points of the arms and then press them and weld them for added security. I don't want to have to buy new stuff again.

are you sure you measure the ball joints properly? The moog ball joint you bought is made for these cars and there is no mention of being oversized so they should install without removal of any material or welding them in place.

 

[oldscutlasswagon]

I measured them both right before the lip that tells you they're fully seated. I bet the splines themselves account for the .020" discrepancy I measure. Quick unrelated question to everyone, for the UPPER arms are the bushings the same front to rear? I have a factory manual saying the front ones should be bigger but they all look the same to me....