ball joint bolts

[vetteman1355]

Maybe Spud from Saturn uses some sort of step bolt, as surely this has come has come to light before if this is the way he produces them ??

Nigel

[MarkB]

Shoulder bolts are damn expensive mind you as the shoulder tends to be machined to certain sizes so they can be used as pivot bolts.

Is there enough meat in the ball joint itself to let you drill out the holes so at least they match? But then 14mm bolts is gonna be fat 'n much chunkyness

[vetteman1355]

Hi Mark,

It might be possible to drill the joint to 1/2" but there would be not be enough room for the bolt head or nut, I think maybe I will have to machine a counter sunk head cap screw into a shoulder bolt and re thread to maybe 3/8" or 10 mm
Another idea would be to machine up some step washers that maybe the easiest answer !!

Nigel

[MarkB]

That's a cracking idea make up a top hat bush that resizes the holes on the wishbone use them underneath though so they don't jack up the ball joint...

[baz-r]

a short m10 bolt should be fine if your bottom arms are right
the maxi joint would have a imp hole that is a little bigger than 10mm 7/16 clearince hole i think
i have 3ge plates in mine and there is a very tiny amount of wiggle with two m10's just pushed in the holes so thats what im using

[spud69]

Hello Nigel,

Apologies Nigel, have just seen this one - been away from the computer a lot recently. Just looked through the invoices and i see that this was dispatched in June last year about the time when i was changing cnc parts supplier. All the cnc parts including these have been made from the same dxf files that i have supplied to both laser profilers that we use. Have checked the latest batch we have and they are all fine.

In other words not sure what has happened there, if you need another set sending over its not a problem just let me know.

Regards....Andrew

[trick-kit]

Originally Posted by vetteman1355

Maybe Spud from Saturn uses some sort of step bolt, as surely this has come has come to light before if this is the way he produces them ??

Nigel

It would probably be cheaper to throw the parts away and cut new ones to the correct size than source step bolts to rectify the problem.

If the wishbone plates aren't welded in situe, the easiest option is to return them for the correct items, failing that stepped inserts would be the next best option (drilling the ball joint out would leave very little material around the bolt hole, which could lead to premature failure), as you don't want the ball joint to move under load, the main body hole already has a large clearence value on it.

TK

[vetteman1355]

Thanks for the offer to replace the parts Andrew, but I don't think it is a big deal to make up step washers for the three sets of wishbones we have, I am hoping to pick up a lathe soon as I used to be a toolmaker before I got into real estate so it is simple job for me.

I was just not sure if there were some special bolts you guys were using over there

Cheers
Nigel

[baz-r]

weld up the hold grind back and redrill the holes simples