pitman ball

[wbs]

hello- does anyone know where i can buy 1" mild steel ball or other machinable ball? thank you i reviewed old posts and someone suggested msc but a review of catalog did not show one. would an ornamental wrought iron ball work?

[wrndln]

Why don't you save yourself a lot of effort and have A&L Parts Specialties in Connecticut replace the ball with a hardened ball. They do an excellent job of machining the worn ball to a cylinder and pressing on a hardened ball and TIG welding it in place for extra insurance. Once installed, you can't tell the ball was replaced. I have had several pitman arms and front end balls replace by them.
Rusty Nelson

[Barry B./ Ma.]

You might consider buying a shortened pitman arm from Brattons or Snyders, it's all new steel and will make steering easier, reasonable cost also. If you want a reballed original contact A&L in Canton Ct.

[1955cj5]

You can get them here...

https://parts.modelastore.com/show_Product.asp?ID=3255


Bert's also has original pitman arms with replacement balls...I just bought one and it looks and works great...in fact I also replaced both spindle arms with re-balled originals from Bert's....other vendors offer them as well....

.

[glenn in camino]

I usually have the low places built up with weld and hand file the welds down to make the ball as close to 1" as possible. This method has always worked well for me and keeps the part its original one piece.

[Simonpie]

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mcMaster.com

https://www.mcmaster.com/#96455k62/=196l78p

They also have various other higher strength steels.

[CarlG]

I have bought new pitman arms both standard and short from Snyder's.

[Tom Endy]

The four steering balls on the Model A steering assembly is an area not to be carelessly fooled with. If any one of the four fail while you are rolling down the road you will lose your ability to steer the car.

Years ago there were a number horror stories about how some of these ball replacements failed. Most of the suppliers carried the replacement balls that were attached to a short shaft. Often club seminars replaced the worn balls by sawing off the old, drilling a hole, and welding the replacement in the hole. A number of them failed when the side loading caused the weld to come apart.

Some of the suppliers removed them from their catalog. Walt Bratton I know removed them from his catalog years ago as he did not want to be part of any law suit.

Today your best bet is to purchase the exchange units done by A&L. Their technique is probably the best available as they retain the original shaft and only replace the ball by sliding it down over the shaft with an interference press fit and welding it in place at the top. Bratton's carry the A&L exchanges.

Tom Endy

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Barry B./ Ma.

You might consider buying a shortened pitman arm from Brattons or Snyders, it's all new steel and will make steering easier, reasonable cost also. If you want a reballed original contact A&L in Canton Ct.

Exactly for either choice.
I welded and filed the 4 very worn balls on my 1928, but it was so much work and time consuming, that I'd never do it again.

[wbs]

thanks to all who replied - i spoke with my machinist and he recomended using a mild steel ball so as not to wear the socket. there seem to be plenty of high carbon steel balls but not any mild steel balls, but i found a lot of architectual 1" balls which are forged or cast- i ve not had a chance to ask the machinist whether he thinks these balls would be ok- i understand that the original pitman arm was made out of a one piece forged steel-i'll let every body know what machinist says when i hear from him- it may help people in future

[Tom Wesenberg]

It's your car's steering, and people's lives.............don't experiment.........buy the right parts already to install. A&L does them right.

[glenn in camino]

I installed a shortened pitman arm on my 31 sport coupe but it shortened my turning radius, and made it hard to steer into my garage. I replaced it with the stock arm and it's ok.

[J Franklin]

I had mine welded and ground it round, worked fine. I recently replaced it with a new shortened and didn't perceive much difference in the steering. My reasoning for the shorter arm was to lessen the quick steering response, since my car was always fairly easy to steer and turn.

[jhowes]

I don't understand Glenn's remarks. I have a shortened arm and the steering limit is still the stops at the wheels. Short arm, long arm, or no arm, the wheel stops at the same angle. So how can the turning radius be any different? Jack

[Keith True]

I've always seen the same thing.I have been told the 7 tooth boxes can end travel before the spindles hit the stops,but I've never seen one to verify.All the two tooth boxes I've seen with the short arms still let the spindles hit the stops.Maybe using regular nuts on the kingpin wedges instead of the long stop nuts let the car oversteer and come to the end of the box travel.The vertical shortening of the pitman arm by 1-1/2 inches changes the fore-art travel of the drag link by thousandths.Somebody on here had done the math and came up with the exact number.I want to say .375,but can't quite remember and searches here usually send me into never-never land.

[bettlesr]

I put a shortened pitman arm on my '30 and it the spindles hit the stops. Almost one full turn more than with the stock arm. I also put on on a '29 roadster and the box stopped before the spindles hit the stops. On the '29 the turning radius was larger.

[George Miller]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

It's your car's steering, and people's lives.............don't experiment.........buy the right parts already to install. A&L does them right.

Plus1

Had a engineer who worked at the cylinder manufacturing plant that I worked at decided that welding a ball on his steering arm was the way to go. I tried to tell him not to do it, but he was a engineer I was just ran the manufacturing part.
One day he turned in the drive and steering arm fell off, he was lucky.

Just by a new one you might not be as lucky

[CarlG]

Nothing that can't be fixed with an adjustable drag link.