jmn444
+1y
found it...
What you need before you start: A pair of reamers, commonly referred to as "Inch and a half" and "Two Inch" reamers: These are specialty tapered reaming tools, and the "1 1/2" and "2"" refer to how big the hole would be if you plunged the reamer in a foot....now, NO ONE reams a hole a foot deep, that is just how the taper is described for an automotive balljoint, as opposed to the more common "degree" designation of a typical reamer.
The good news? These tools can be purchased from Port City Racing for $100 each...or MOST competent machine shops have reamers that are VERY close...and the reason you need two is because the ball joints have a different taper then the tir rod ends....
Okay, the next thing you need is a pair of 1/2 ton Chevy (anything in the 70's to the early 90's will do) or Chrysler ball joint...Chevys are a press in ball joint, and Chryslers are a screw-in joint....one other consideration is that with the Chrysler joint, there is a GREATER distance between the spindle pin and the ball joint....so this arrangement limits the wheel size that you can run...with the Chryselr ball joint, I am pretty sure you are limited to 20's or larger, but with the Chevy ball joint, I am confident that you can run 18's...also, different wheels have different hoop configurations, and so how big of a wheel you can fit depends on the wheel style, as well.
Step 1: Remove the spindles, remove the opper control arms, remove the lower control arms, and remove the tie rod ends off the rack.
Step 2: Identify a competent machine shop, and provide them with your spindles, Chevy or Chrysler lower ball joints, one of the upper control arms, and one of the tie rod ends.
Instruct them to bore out both stock ball joint holes, and the steering knuckle (tie rod) hole. I usually have these drilled out to .980".
Instruct them to manufacture "reverse taper bushings", which are nothing more that pieces of 1" bar stock, bored and tapered to fit the new lower ball joint, upper ball joint, and tie rod end. This is where the reamers come in....if you DON'T have them, instruct the machine shop to ream the bushings at exactly the same angle, and to the same depth, as the OEM taper.
Also, instruct them to make the bushings as long as the ball joint "boss" on the spindle is tall.
These bushings are then pressed into the spindles from the OPPOSITE side of the OEM taper orientation....that is, from the bottom, so that the taper is now oriented towards the bottom of the spindle.
At this point, you should have two spindles, modified with reverse-taper bushings, the tapers of which match the OEM upper ball joint taper for the upper bushing, the new Chevy or Chyrsler taper for the lower bushing, and the OEM tie rod taper for the steering knuckle bushing.
Step 3: Press the original ball joint out of the lower control arm. Either source a piece of dimensionally accurate tubing, or have your machine shop machine you a piece of tubing, that has a "press-fit" or "screw-fit" diameter that is appropriate to the lower ball joint you have chosen. When you compare the Chevy and Chrysler lower ball joints, you will see that the Chevy has a press-fit (smooth) surface, and the Chrysler has a screw-in outer surface. You will also notice that the Chrysler piece is "taller" than the Chevy piece, and so the tubing that you are having machined must be of a height consistent with the ball joint you are using....the purpose of this tubing is to create a "collar" for the ball joint to be ppressed or screwed into...and its typically going to be 3/4" to 1? tall.
Step 4: Looking down on the Ford lower control arm, orient your new lower ball joint "collar" so that its INSIDE edge is equal to the INSIDE edge of the original Fors ball joint hole....what you will find is that the new collar is now offset towards the outside of the control arm. This is because the new collar has a larger i.d. than the OEM ball joint hole, and so when you line up the INSIDE edges, the new collar is naturally offset on the OUTSIDE edges.
At this point, you have two mounting options: scribe a line around the collar position, and then cut out the control arm on this scribe line, effectively creating a hole for the collar to nest in.
The alternative is to simply tack the collar on, at this point, and then cut out the excess OEM control arm material INSIDE the new collar. I prefer to do the scribe-and-cut technique because this lets me nest the collar in a clean hole, it allows me to "drop" the collar into the hole deep enough that I have a nice nesting surface for the new ball joint, and it allows me to tweak the position of the ball joint for that extra degree of camber, before I do the final welding.
Step 5: Now that you have your modified lower control arm, press (or screw) the new ball joint in...remember, the ball joint goes in from the BOTTOM now....and remount the lower control arms. Do NOT swap them side to side...leave the drivers side on the drivers side, and vice versa.
Step 6: Invert and swap the upper control arms, right to left (the drivers side is now on the passengers side.....), ensuring that the ball hoint pins are now pointing UP, as opposed to down. The reason that you have to swap them side-to-side is to maintain proper caster...if you don't, the car will NOT steer, ever!
Step 7: Mount your spindles on the "flipped" control arms.
Step 8: Depending on the year and model, you MAY have to trim 3/8" off the end of the rack, on each side, to re-mount the tie rod ends, so that you can get proper toe alignment. The reason this MAY be necessary is because this process actually NARROWS the track width of the front end....
If you do, just cut off 3/8" of the end of the rack, clean up the threads, and then screw the tie rod ends back on, and secure them to the spindles.
Get the thing aligned, and viola! You have a 3" staic drop, using all OEM parts.