ball joint question

[mxracer]

Hello does someone know how the ball joint is fixed to the arms with a ball joint like houser arms
Thanks

[Cole Trane]

It just runs through the bend of the a arm and is held on by a teflon nut. That is how most standard a arms are.

[Cole Trane]

It just runs through the bend of the a arm and is held on by a teflon nut. That is how most standard a arms are. On the long travel housers, I believe that the ball joint is actually fixed inside the a arm. This makes it a lot stronger. I just broke a ball joint the other day on some standard JD performance a arms. A arms held up good, just snapped the ball joint bolt!

[mxracer]

How the heim joint are fixed to the arms? I know that the standard ball joint are thread to the arms but i don't know how the heim joint are fixed to the arms
Thanks

[boogiechile]

On houser long travels with heims the bottom arm actually uses a spherical bearing that presses into the cup at the end of the arm and has a snap ring that retains it. The upper arms use a heim joint that threads into the arm like a regular ball joint.

[mxracer]

Thank you very much boogiechile
But sorry i'm not sure to understand
Does the spherical bearing is the ball joint?
Is it press fit, or taper ??
Francis

[boogiechile]

yes the spherical bearing is the ball joint on the bottom. a sperical bearing and a heim joint are the same except the spherical bearing does not have a threaded shank attached to it. It is just a round bearing with a ball type socket just like the heim has. Go to houser web site and you can see both types.

[mxracer]

Thank you boogiechile
Do you know where i can buy these ball joint?
Rpm have made a new one supposed to be very strong but they not reply to my email I have also e-mail Houser with no more luck

[mxracer]

Do they are press fit into the arms??

[boogiechile]

What type arms do you have? You have to get ball joints that match your arms. If you have threaded in joints for example they could be 14 or 16 mm threads where most heim joints are 3/4 threads and the press in spherical joints require a arms made with the cup at the end to accept them. You asked about Housers, Is that what you have now?

[mxracer]

I design my own arms. Last year I made +3 standard travel with threads balljoint. This year I want to make long travel arms like the houser one. But I have never see them and I want to know how the spherical joint is fixed into the cup. If i have understand you well, they are press fit into the cup with a snapring to retain it
It is ok?

[boogiechile]

I build my own stuff too. A arms, swing arms, steering stems, and mod my frames. I use 3/4 inch heims for ball joints. You can buy the cups that accept the spherical bearings ready to weld on but I lost my link to where to buy them. shouldn't be too hard to find. Yes they do press in and have a snap ring to retain them. go here to see the Houser long travels
http://www.houser-racing.com/aarms_lt.htm

[mxracer]

Thanks boogiechile
Can you post pics of your arms and swing arms?
Do I can buy the balljoint and the cup from houser? because they don't have reply my emailThanks

[boogiechile]

You can buy Houser replacement ball joints but I do not know if they will sell you the cup or not. You can see some of my stuff in the albums at http://www.picturetrail.com/mojaveaddict Look in the super mojave albums for the long travel stuff using heims for ball joints.

[mxracer]

Great work boogiechile
Where do you buy your ball joint and how much did you pay for them
Thanks

[boogiechile]

I buy the heim joints here http://www.aedmotorsport.com/FK/index.html

I use the JM series joints. The 3/4 inch are about 18.00 each. scroll down the joints on the left of the page until you come to the JM series and click it. A spec and price list will come up.

I also use their heims for the frame mount of the upper arms and for tie rod ends.

[mxracer]

Thanks