Radius Ball Question

P

Plainsman30

Member
Hi,
I replaced a rubber ball type radius with the factory style radius. However, I don't know if it fits right. You can see in the picture that there is a gap between the top half of the cap and the bell housing casting. The top half does not seem to fit the contour of the casting very well. Is this the way it is supposed to be or do I need to do some grinding?

Thanks in advance
 

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I think the gap may be a little to wide , make sure the part that goes to the bell housing has the small hole in it. The two cups may be reversed.
 
The little hole is facing up, so the cups are not reversed. I originally thought the felt pad in the bell housing may be holding the top cup down, but that wasn't it. I also checked to be sure the mounting flange on the top cup was flat, but that wasn't it either. Thanks,
 
Since ford used the rubber ball type in later fords, i was wondering what the opinions are about there use in the model "a". Or is like a white wall/black wall discussion?
 
jhowes said:
Since ford used the rubber ball type in later fords, i was wondering what the opinions are about there use in the model "a". Or is like a white wall/black wall discussion?
Click to expand...

The rubber ball works well but slightly changes your caster angle which is the vertical angle (front to rear angle) of the king pins.
 
aermotor said:
I may be wrong but I thought the rubber ball only went with the later cast caps and not the early caps.
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Yes, the rubber cap only goes with the thicker cast caps.

I don't think I'd worry about the slight gap in the top cap. Drive the car and see how it goes.
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
Yes, the rubber cap only goes with the thicker cast caps.

I don't think I'd worry about the slight gap in the top cap. Drive the car and see how it goes.
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Good idea, Tom, I've seen them "settle" in after driving awhile. And with the springs there, they usually DON'T need the nuts re-tightened.
Bill W.
 
I am only thinking out loud here, but you might need to grind down the bolt spacers (little pieces of steel or brass tubing) to get a tighter fit...I have noticed lately that the spacers provided in the kits all need to be ground down a bit.
 
Thanks to all who replied. I will try the things suggested.
We did sometimes have a some shimmy at low speed when using the rubber ball, but the shimmy seems to be gone after switching to the factory set up. The ball does sit up higher and closer to the bell housing when using the factory set up compared to the rubber ball.
 
I'm glad I have seen that pic ,,,it has prompted me to realise that my radius ball clamp springs were in the wrong place ,I recently dissembled the ball clamps and did wonder what action the springs would do seeing as they were clamped between the cups,,,there's a fair chance this would cause a looseness and be contributing to the poor driveability I have experienced ,,,the bolts also were bent slightly back also about half way along the exposed part of the bolt this may suggest that the cups were riding out from the mount thus bending the bolts ,,I may have been lucky not to have had more trouble because of this ,,,,
 
My thought is that the inside bolt holes through the bell housing are worn down into the bell housing making the bolts appear to be too long. The result being that the nuts do not snug up the spacers to the top radius rod plate/bell housing without getting the nut too far from the cotter pin hole in the bolts. A possible sign of this situation is the bolt turning because the bolt head slot misses the cross pin due the bolt head being sunk into the bell housing.
There is a solution for this problem in the latest issue of one of the national Model A club magazines. It involves making bolt head washers from a specific spring.
I am currently involved with this problem on my Model A...waiting on parts delivery.
This repair is said to be possible without major component removal.
 
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