Radius Rod front ball kit

[TomInCologne]

Hi guys,


the radius rod ball kit original style A-3440-s does include the two bolts to which everything is fastened on. I am not in front of the car right now bt if my memory serves me right, the bolts come from inside the gear box or bell housing? So, to swap them you need to take the car apart much further?


If you justwant to swap the ball, do you use the old bolts?


And is there any advantage or limitation to use A-3440-S instead of A-3440-RE?

[Russell Reay]

My car came with the rubber ball and I switched back to original style. The bolts are the same. If I remember correctly when the ball is unbolted and drops down a few inches you can reach up in to remove/ replace bolts. May require baby fingers or magnet. Be prepared for pro and con opinions about the rubber ball

[Marshall V. Daut]

Take a long needle nose pliers and heat the last inch or so. Then bend the ends to a 90 degree angle. Push the bolts upwards from underneath, slide the jaws under the bolt heads and carefully lift them up and down through the hole. Reverse the procedure to install the bolts. If you drop one inside the bellhousing while removing or installing them, don't worry about it. You can easily fish them out and start all over again.
My experience with those bolts is that they are longer with the rubber ball design than the original mounting pieces. If you switch to the original design, but keep the rubber ball bolts, you may run out of threads when tightening the large nuts.
Yes, long thin fingers are a plus in this case, should you need to fish an errant bolt out of the bellhousing!
Marshall

[johnbuckley]

With careful manipulation you can finger them into position via the hole . Also it is possible to locate them into position via the inspection cover useing a long handled magnet or three pronged grabber. Tie dental floss to the cotter pin hole as a further recovery method !

[Steve Schmauch]

Hello Tom--The original bolts are fine if they are not worn. It would be good to check the fit of those two bolts. Originally they had a slip-fit tolerance. If you can wiggle them, then the bell housing cast iron is worn. This can be a cause for front end wobble.

Use of the rubber ball only masks the problem of a worn ball. At some time the ball will need to be replaced or built back up to round.

[Joe K]

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I use "forceps" to reach up inside the hole and place the cap bolts.

YOU WANT TO CHECK REPLACEMENT BOLTS - because sometimes the slot is not cut into the "head" deep enough to allow the crossways retaining pin to pass through from left to right on the bell-housing.

I have "bent" the retaining pin to allow it to clear the shallow slots as a way to make it work. But in bending you have to be careful to not bend the pin so much the pin hangs up on its bend. (I.e. passing "in" works but passing "out" on the other side alignment is lost.)

Another way I've dealt with this is to grind the cap bolt slot/groove deeper. How much to remove is the question, however. You don't want to remove so much you "weaken" the head area - and you don't want to waste time re-grinding to make it deeper and crawling under the car each time to remove the bolts (forceps) and make it happen.

This IS one of those jobs that are best done with the tranny/bell housing removed - but getting to that point is its own challenge.

Joe K

[Y-Blockhead]

Isn't there a retainer pin that holds those bolts in place along with the radius ball felt? I think I would keep the ones that are in there if possible because I remember it was difficult to get everything lined up.

https://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/p...7771&cat=41738

https://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/p...7759&cat=41738

[Big hammer]

I installed a trailer hitch on a modern, in the kit was a tool for fishing bolts through inaccessible holes in the SUV frame. The tool was a wire that had a wound on one end that you thread the bolt into, pull the bolt through the enclosed frame, the bolt followed into the hole ! Very slick way to install hardware.

[larrys40]

They may not be bad …. As I don’t replace them if the drivetrain is assembled if they are good. If they need replacing Marshall’s descriptive process is exactly right.
He’s done it more than a time or two !
Larry Shepard

[TomInCologne]

Thanks to all, we have taken off everything except the bolts, they look fine so we are re-using them.


Tom

[stevemclark]

Originally Posted by Big hammer

I installed a trailer hitch on a modern, in the kit was a tool for fishing bolts through inaccessible holes in the SUV frame. The tool was a wire that had a wound on one end that you thread the bolt into, pull the bolt through the enclosed frame, the bolt followed into the hole ! Very slick way to install hardware.

This works on the frame mount radiator spring mounted bolts too.

[TomInCologne]

please, pardon my french but how do you get the effing rubber ball on the metal ball? two people, with and without grease, using spoons as levers… no luck…

[Big hammer]

Try putting the ball in a pot of boiling water getting the rubber ball soft and pliable, then the spoon trick or just use a big hammer ! I helped dad put a rubber trike tire on a wheel and we soaked it in hot water making it pliable

[TomInCologne]

got it on, but had to cut the rubber ball left and right a bit. this was only option c, not our favourite choice. we‘ll see how she behaves…

[johnbuckley]

Originally Posted by TomInCologne

how do you rubber ball on the metal ball?

I 've always managed it with a good smear of Vaseline.