jeebus @ mmw
+1y
Edited: 7/29/2010 2:17:49 PM by Chopped Mazda
So, lately ive had a lot of people asking me about my spherical bearing control arms, and how their different from other shops control arms, both by looks and function.
First off, i dont use ball joints very often. So, with that said, I went down to my local 4x4 / Circle Track shop and bought a set of their spherical bearings, bearing cups and alignment spacers so that i could compare them to the parts I build in house.
First off, i machine my bearing cups from 4130 Chromoly tube instead of DOM tube, the Chromoly tube dosent distort as much when welding, so its ideal for this application. I also put hard tapers and smooth cuts on all the faces of my cups, they look very flowing and it also helps with the amount of travel they allow.
If you notice on the standard uni-ball setup that you can get anyware else, they have 2 alignment spacers that a bolt runs through and attatches to your spindle. This creates two problems. The first being you have to drill out your spindle. It may not sound like a big problem, but when you just bought a 400$ set of drop spindles for your new tundra, drilling them out dosent sound like fun. Also, if you dont drill the hole correctly through your spindle, you could have the opposite effect on your suspension, and cause you to loose travel with your suspension. Problem two ends up being that the alignment spacers severely limit your travel, they just max out on their travel far before a custom machined kit of mine, that means alot when your dropping cash for someone to build your arms.
With every set of custom control arms that i produce, i machine a tapered shaft that seats itself snugly into your spindle, just like your stock balljoint would. No need to modify your spindle or anything, just drop it in, and tighten it up with the supplied hardware like you would normally.
I snapped a few pics of both my kits, and the standard kits that a lot of other shops use and sell.
I hope this clears up any questions about them.