welded balls..

Patrick L.

Patrick L.

Well-known member
All this chatter about welded pitman arm balls coming unglued must have made me paranoid.. I welded my balls[all 4] quite some time ago, but,I removed the pitman arm and took it to a local shop for testing.. I just brought it back home with a clean bill of health and stuck it back on.. I've never had a weld fall apart,but, I guess there could always be that first time :(.... Well, now I can start taking it to breakfast again..
 
I believe that that the warning was about failing factory welds in replacement parts not properly "home" welded pieces. In the recent thread on that topic the failed weld was found not to have penetrated which lead to the failure. If your weld was done properly and it checked well then you should be OK; though I am always skeptical about welded steering components, probably because I am not a welder.

Thanks,

Joe

 
I do some welding now and then but I would NEVER weld the steering balls on the model A. If one comes loose you will have zero control of the car. The fit of the ball /stud and the penetration of the weld is just too critical.

I dont want to jeapordize my family to save a few bucks.

There are a couple areas that I will NOT do on my own; and this is one of them.

Dennis L Oberer
Green Bay WI
 
I agree with Dennis Oberer. I got new stainless steel balls from A&L for about $110.00 including shipping. I figure that it is money well spent. Saving my money other places, not on safety. JMHO
 
My experince was a very close one...

After restoring my 1929 Standard Coupe (with new, rebuilt steering arms and pitman arm), I took off for California from Walla Walla, WA. Made it with out a problem.

On my return and just coming into the town of Bend, Oregon, it happened. All of a sudden I had no steering. Thank God I was going slow into the the southern end of town and down a little hill. Here I was in the middle of an intersection and no steering. So I pushed it into the gas station.

Upon inspection I found that the ball on the pitman arm had come apart.

I then pulled out my 1980 MAFCA Directory, made a few calls o some of the members in the area, found a used pitman arm, put it on, and I was on my way.

When I got home I removed ALL three rebuilt arms and replaced them with good solid originals. Called the fellow who restored them and told him about the misshap. He quit the service as I did not see his add in The Restorer any more.

Since then, the technology has somewhat changed and I now have rebuilt ones from A and L.

I completey agree with Dennis as this is one restoration of parts I will leave up to the professionels who have had experience on the restoration of these units.

However the BEST ones are those original ones that have good balls and never been touched.

Pluck
 
I have welded for over 50 years and would never weld on steering parts.Steering parts are forgings.They are heat treated.I would magnaflux steering parts and rear axle replacments.Many broken axles show evidence of old cracks.
 
Well, I probably would only weld my own balls.. It been quite a while and I'm all healed up now and almost back to normal..:D
 
any thing can fail even new stuff, property welded the ball is as or stronger than the rest of the arm, if the ball shaft is tapered properly and using enough heat and the right rod it will not fail, ive welded probably 50 or so and never had a weld fail, pay attention to details and yours wont either:cool:
 
Yep, I'm not worried about anything I weld.. Most welds are put thru more punishment than those on a steering or pitman arm.. I'm suspect of most welds unless I know who did the gluing..Now that I think about what I just said, there are some folks that I wouldn't think of using anything that they welded..
 
If you are welding items that have been heat treated, springs, bumper irons, pitman balls arms, suspension components you have destroyed the heat treat, double likely if you MIG'ed it.
 
Not disputing that statement Frank but what difference does a Mig have over say a Tig or stick weld. a Mig has a small HAZ versus some other methods of welding which is why a Mig is the type of welding approved for most High Strength steels used in modern cars. Just asking. I guess I could ask my brother as he has been a welder for the last 40 plus years and has to test on a regular bases.
 
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