Replacing wishbone ball

[Gary in Mozarks]

On the old barn I asked about replacing kingpins and moving the front spring over about 2 inches due to a sheared front spring center bolt. I wondered if it would be wise to just pull the entire wishbone out to do the work and someone suggested I replace the wishbone ball at the same time. Is that part called a radius rod ball bushing? B3446R Thanks in advance.
Gary in Mozarks (Pistoncan)

PS. does anyone rent .812 king pin reamers? I see they want big bucks for one.
Gary

[Randy in ca]

Take your spindles/king pins to a machine shop and have the bushings honed to size. Shouldn't cost much and a way better job.

[Russ/40]

I wouldn't recommend replacing the wishbone ball. Rebuild it by welding it back up to size.

[PeteVS]

Model A's had the steel ball on the wishbone riding in a greased steel cup at the bottom of the bell housing and if they didn't get greased, the ball wore. The only recourse was to replace the wishbone or build it up with weld and grind it down. In '32 thru '48, they put a rubber ball (part #3446?) over the steel ball and that worked out quite well. The steel ball lasted quite well on all the car's I've seen. The rubber ball can easily be installed by lubing it up a bit, placing the large hole up against the steel ball and blowing a quick shot of compressed air into the small hole. It literally falls into place.

[Ross in East Texas]

In reality, by the time you have the shackles removed and the spring U-bolts off, the ball is all that is holding the front axle assembly in, you might as well pull it and get the axle out to finish the king pin bushing installation. If you don't have access to a king pin bushing reamer then I also would suggest that you get this done by a competent machine shop for a proper fit.

[Gary in Mozarks]

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Originally Posted by Russ/40

I wouldn't recommend replacing the wishbone ball. Rebuild it by welding it back up to size.

Sorry Russ, I was refering to the rubber ball bushing, not the ball itself, I didn;t explain that well.

The problem for me is finding a machine shop that can do the work. We live so far out in the sticks its a 50 mile trip to a McDonalds. LOL
Gary in Mozarks (pistoncan)