Thoughts on replacing ball joints with heim joints?

[bikewarrior350]

So my day of riding ended early when i busted a lower ball joint so im gonna have to replace another a-arm again. i got to thinking that instead of buying another arm i could replace all the ball joints with heim joints like they have on all the aftermarket arms. fabrication wise i dont think ill have any problems. only thing im really concerned about is how thick the tubing is on the arms and i dont want to cut anything up and find out that its not gonna work. thoughts? comments?

 

[3504life]

i dont think you should replace just the ball joint. when you press the ball joint out of the socket you wil probily stretch/ bend the metal around the hole where the ball joint is souppost to go and the now one will not stay in

 

[1998yamahawarrior]

Well 3504life you cant replace the balljoint in his years. But bikewarrior since you have a busted one you could atleast test the idea on one of the bad arms. If you can figure out that it will work that will save a bunch of people time and money.

 

[3504life]

i had no idea about that you couldnt change one on his year thanks

 

[1998yamahawarrior]

i had no idea about that you couldnt change one on his year thanks

ya 87 for sure has replacable joints, possibly other early year just dont know for sure on them.

 

[87warrior917]

I think thats a great idea bikewarrior. As long as the welds are good you should be fine.

 

[bikewarrior350]

now that i broke a second ball joint i actually could do both lower arms as a pair. i think the lowers would wouldnt be too bad cause the tubes are pretty big but the uppers are kinda flimsy. but i suppose u could use a bigger heim on the lowers than the uppers seeing as they hold most of the weight

also i have a question for those that have aftermarket arms. how do they adapt the regular straight round hole to the tapered ball joint hole? Im not too thrilled about the idea of drilling out the knuckle and just using a bolt

 

[beastlywarrior228]

watch the metal is very thin

 

[bikewarrior350]

watch the metal is very thin

the a-arm tubing is thin or ar u reffering to the knuckle?

 

[DeadLastRacing]

I say cut out the are at the bottom of the arm when they come together and weild in a threaded tube. But some heims from McMaster Carr and get your pivot pins from ASR and call it done. Easy peasey. I just bought new heims and pins, Pines were $80 for 4, u only need two, and the Heims were $40ish for 4, u only need two. So your lookin at $40+ and what ever your threaded tubing cost ya.

 

[bikewarrior350]

I say cut out the are at the bottom of the arm when they come together and weild in a threaded tube. But some heims from McMaster Carr and get your pivot pins from ASR and call it done. Easy peasey. I just bought new heims and pins, Pines were $80 for 4, u only need two, and the Heims were $40ish for 4, u only need two. So your lookin at $40+ and what ever your threaded tubing cost ya.

thats exactally what i was thinking. that way id be almost like the way aftermarket arms made. im pretty sure i could do the same concept on the uppers too but just use a smaller heim and add some gussets to the new tube that would be welded in for the heims to thread into