Burgard arms with Ricky Stator ball joints

[khen]

After reading a quite a few threads about Burgard ball joints breaking I decided to order some Ricky Stator 16mm ball joints to install in my brand new Burgards. I jump pretty big and weigh over 200lbs and don't want to risk them breaking and me killing myself.. So anyhow, I have a couple of questions:

Has anyone drilled out the arms and installed the 16mm joints before? If so, how did it go?

Also, I just ordered 2 for the bottoms, should I replace the tops as well or will the 14mm joints be ok on top?

[GIXXER1KR]

Burgards breaking!!HHHMMM i just orderd a set!!

[HiperEX]

i dont think the 16mm balljoints are going to work, i had old style laegers and they used the older 14mm and the 16 is much much bigger drilling it out would do no good, i orderd new balljoints and was unaware that they changed so im stuck here with some frap 16mm balljoints

[khen]

Originally posted by HiperEX
i dont think the 16mm balljoints are going to work, i had old style laegers and they used the older 14mm and the 16 is much much bigger drilling it out would do no good, i orderd new balljoints and was unaware that they changed so im stuck here with some frap 16mm balljoints Why do you think drilling the arm out wouldn't work? Do you think it would make the walls to thin if it was drilled to 16mm?

[khen]

Originally posted by GIXXER1KR
Burgards breaking!!HHHMMM i just orderd a set!! Yea, I wish I would have done more research before I ordered the Burgards.. :(

Keep in mind these are the Burgard standard a-arms. Apparently they also make a HD version that use the heavier duty ball joints.

[HiperEX]

yes the walls would be pretty much gone and the 16mm balljoints mount differntly

[PismoLocal]

I just bought a set of the HD burgards from pappy he hooked it up.

[khen]

Originally posted by HiperEX
yes the walls would be pretty much gone and the 16mm balljoints mount differntly hmm... I wonder if the 16mm ball joints that you have are more like the ones that come on the Burgard HD arms currently. Are the Frap ones you have more like the one labeled 'E' in this picture? The Ricky Stator ones are the ones labeled 'A'.

http://www.rickystator.com/media/BallJointcomp.jpg

[HiperEX]

yep the one i have are labeled E are the the ricky stator style the same diameter the threaded part as the 14mm or is this where u want to know if youd need to drill out for that im curious as well if they do work i will be getting some

[khen]

The one labeled 'D' is a 14mm(broken off), you can see that the threaded shaft size is smaller than the Ricky Stator one, but the Ricky Stator one looks quite a bit smaller than the Frap style one. I will definitly have to drill out the arm some, I just hope that the wall thickness of the arm tubing is thick enough.

[HiperEX]

are you giving the rickystators a try? if so let me know how it works out

[khen]

When I get them in I'm going to size them up and see I can drill out the arm without thinning it out to much. I'll post my results when I'm done.

[HiperEX]

ok sounds good

[mdidonne]

Thats why I did not order the Burgard a arms. I heard everyone who has them are breaking them too. I am ordering Houser +2 arms at the end of the month. I have heard nothing but good things about them.

[khen]

I had a chance to install the Ricky Stator ball joints this morning and it all went fairly smooth. The tubing wall on the bottom Burgard arm was plenty thick to drill out the extra 2 mm. Here are some tips:

1- Use a good quality, sharp 5/8" drill bit and a liberal amount of cutting oil. NOTE: If you want to tap the arm so you can thread the ball joint in, you'll have to use a smaller bit.

2- I took a few breaks drilling them out so I didn't heat up the arms excessively.

3- I found that drilling from the outside(taper side) in was easier. It was already cuped out to about 5/8" for a 1/4+" and that helped me guide the bit in straight.

The new ball joints look/feel quite a bit more durable. :D Hopefully I'll get a chance to get out and put this to the test this week some time.