Steering Radius Arm Ball Sockets

[bradson]

Could anybody offer as to where to get replacement ball sockets to re weld back into the end of steering radius arms. I know Agriline have the footpegs with the female ball half and you can get the transmission side socket half but have not come across male ball replacement section.
The ones I have are the original cast steel and have been excessively worn by a fault in the main axle pin being ignored long term by the previous owner. Looked on lots of sites but no luck and nothing local in Aust either.
Any help or ideas welcome

[tom lad]

welcome to the forum

i believe some people grind metal of the two halfs of the socket , so as to tighten up the joint , then a good smear grease on re assemberly

never heard of the new ball inner being for sale m8 sorry
hope this helps
tom

[Jerry Coles]

I cut a slice off a coke can and fitted that between the cap and the ball. Don't over tighten as the cap is cast but it certainly took up the slack.
You can grind off the face of the cap but you will only need a little off and again, don't over tighten.
I replaced the bolts on the front fork/axle with mudguard fixing bolts and that more than made up for any wheel wobble I had.
IMHO
cheers
Jerry

[bradson]

Hi Guys
Greetings back from Aust. This is first time using this forum. I am a member from Fordson Club of Aust

Thanks for getting back with a few ideas. Somebody else mentioned that they used to squash up an old penny inside the socket cap to take up the slack. Not much different to the coke can idea. Unfortunately the ball is badly chopped up in both arms. I tried building up with weld and re shaping with the ball still in the radius arm but very difficult to establish a half decent profile and get a reasonable fit being a sphere.
In terms of practicallity probably the hardest of all shapes to fit by hand.
Given the effort to cut the ball out to have a decent go is much and a much.
I have elected I am going to spend some time and draw and machine up my own option from scratch. This way I will get exactly what I want and I can shim the fit between the socket faces to remove as it wears.I will do a few spares for the shelf at the same time.

Look forward to using the forum more often

Bradson

[john.n]

Could you buy a ball bearing of the correct size and weld it to the end of the shaft?
that way there would be not profiling needed. would probs have to be nearest metric equivelent.
Regards,
John

[bradson]

I thought about the Ball Bearing idea a while after I had written the last reply. That would certainly work! I will probably still persist in making up a weld insert like the original but should that get all too hard I can always go the ball option.

Bradson

[Bensdexta]

How about running two weld beads around your existing ball end - one 'equitorial' and the other 'polar'.

Then, assuming you have a decent cap, file the weld beads by trial fitting using engineer's blue or similar to mark the high spots, till you have a near perfect fit in the cap.

Then you can fill in the gaps on the ball with more weld and file everything to shape. Reckon it would work and wouldn't take that long.

[bradson]

Another good idea
The caps are a bit far gone. The initial damage was quite substantial! I tried first up repairing by building up and die grinding back out with burr and stone but it wasn't as successful as I had hoped and didn't look like how I do things .
I wasn't satisfied with the result. I am gong to buy some new caps and footpegs. The axial welds is a good idea that I hadn't really considered at the initial time.
I had some spare time since and ran out a modified program on the lathe today and it turned out better than I expected. Not much different really to a tow ball but without the thread. Once I get the new parts ordered and shipped to Aust I'll size the ball with a shim in place and I will be able to make them by the 100"s at leisure. Problem solved.

Bradson

[Bensdexta]

Another good idea
The caps are a bit far gone. The initial damage was quite substantial! I tried first up repairing by building up and die grinding back out with burr and stone but it wasn't as successful as I had hoped and didn't look like how I do things .
I wasn't satisfied with the result. I am gong to buy some new caps and footpegs. The axial welds is a good idea that I hadn't really considered at the initial time.
I had some spare time since and ran out a modified program on the lathe today and it turned out better than I expected. Not much different really to a tow ball but without the thread. Once I get the new parts ordered and shipped to Aust I'll size the ball with a shim in place and I will be able to make them by the 100"s at leisure. Problem solved.

2nd hand caps /footpegs are quite easy to come by. Do keep us informed of your progress, some pics would be great!

[tom lad]

i swapped the plain cap on the clutch side for a s/h one with a step/ peg
both peg caps are the same , just reversed
the one i got was brake side so the clutch side is un used -new

much more useable with two foot rests like a fergie make getting on/off easyer with my size 14 boots , also i think less likely to catch the clutch pedal.
just my findings