Topic: Ball Joints 67, Upper and Lower Arm Rebuilding

[Bossbill]

So I'm left with three options on upper and lower boots:
Nasty prices on NOS.
Low prices on NPD boots.
Lots of unknown unknowns on the All Classic Motors boots, which has "USA made exact, steel ring & embossed Ford number". I'll have to call them.

And yes, although it's not apparent in the pics above you have to "massage" the arms with various grits in order to remove any/all traces of pits. Difficult at best to do this and still leave all the press marks.
I managed to chuck up the LCA grease cap in my lathe and finesse the pits out of them with a 10mm belt sander (and other tools) while the part was spinning.

While I'm at this I will take my spare arms (aka the arms that need the most work and aren't up to a 'no qualms' concours finish) and will assemble them for later resale.
While you have the tools out to do one set, it's not much more work to do another. And I'll become an arms dealer 

In the end they will go to either Rare Parts or Anghel for the rivet press. I don't need or want to mess about with this particular skill or set of tools.
If you've had this done send me a PM as to how much this costs. Just wondering ...

[Bossbill]

I now have 4 LCAs stripped all the way down.
I thought I'd read every ball joint and UCA/UCA thread here and have never seen an date code listed for the LCA.

For my March car my original (as far as I can tell) LCAs are actually dated on the side of the front nose of the arm. I've never seen date codes shown on LCAs, although I have on UCAs.

Here is an arm with an A5 date code (zoom to see the 'A'), with is appropriate for my car.

[Bob Gaines]

I now have 4 LCAs stripped all the way down.
I thought I'd read every ball joint and UCA/UCA thread here and have never seen an date code listed for the LCA.

For my March car my original (as far as I can tell) LCAs are actually dated on the side of the front nose of the arm. I've never seen date codes shown on LCAs, although I have on UCAs.

Here is an arm with an A5 date code (zoom to see the 'A'), with is appropriate for my car.

I could have sworn that Charles T. had posted pictures of UPC and LCA date stamps on a thread , but regardless the markings are many times overlooked because they are typically so faint that they are easy to miss or are not visible at all from my experience. After blasting and tumbling cores the faint stamping will apparently disappear given so many cores end up without any. The generic looking simple marking is easy to duplicate if one needs to see them. In concours I would not deduct if they are not seen (Thoroughbred or SAAC Premiere /DIV I ) given many are to faint to be distinguished originally.   

[J_Speegle]

A couple of examples both lower and upper to illustrate.

Upper A arm one is just about impossible to see on an assembled car but we the owner or builder knows

[Bossbill]

Took forever to find the boots, so I'm back to this.
One thing that should be mentioned (I don't see it in this thread) is the separation of the ball joint cup/stiffener portion that is spot welded to the stamped steel LCA.
Viewing the attached first pic, note the two holes in the center of the arm that line up with the sway bar hole.
If you intend to really clean up the arms you have to separate the ball joint cup with its integral flat plate stiffener. The stiffener runs under the strut rod bolts and really keeps the assemble, well, stiff!
To remove I use a flat style spot weld cutter and cut through the spot welds on the top of the arm. Having the arm in a drill press with adjustable x/y clamp is the ticket.

After the two are separated, weld up the holes and grind smooth with a 80 and then 120 grit wheel.
After the arm was finished with 120 on both sides I took out a round ball carbide and made some slight depressions on top where the spot welds used to be. Faux spot weld divots!
I finish up with a coarse abrasive mesh wheel (like the 3M black biscuits but much coarser) that smooths out the "weld" depressions. I will gun blue the divots to replicate weld heat later.
Finally another run through the medium grit. I'll do a 20 glass ball run through just prior to sending these off.

I got a hold of Marcus but need a few finish details ironed out prior to sending these in for rivet installation.

I suspect the ball joint cup/stiffener plate should be done to mimic heat treat. So a gun blue finish for all of it?
The grease cup under the ball joint (the one that has the grease fitting) appears in most restorations to be a grayish or cold phosphate treatment. It doesn't appear as bright as the arms. True?

[Bossbill]

I finally found some NOS upper dust boots for my 67 and took a few pics.
I'd really like to know:
a.) I think they're real, right?
b.) What's up with the green paint? I have that on my lower NOS boots, too. Leave it on?

Rotated to show the various markings and one in profile to show the shape.

[Bob Gaines]

I finally found some NOS upper dust boots for my 67 and took a few pics.
I'd really like to know:
a.) I think they're real, right?
b.) What's up with the green paint? I have that on my lower NOS boots, too. Leave it on?

Rotated to show the various markings and one in profile to show the shape.

I think that they are genuine Ford. The paint marking maybe a later assemblyline or service part Identification.  I would take the green paint off. I haven't seen evidence to support that on 67 assemblyline units. If I was concours judging and saw that I would require some type of reasonable evidence or there would be some type of small deduction as part of a cumulative total. We don't typically take off if a paint marking is missing however we do take off if one is applied and is not typical. Typically small but some type of deduction or mention none the less. Just me others may see differently.

[Bossbill]

Thanks again, Bob.

My uppers were replaced, but my original, leaky lowers weren't green.

Hopefully the pics will be useful to others.

[67gtasanjose]

ASSEMBLY NOTE (regarding use of Service Replacement boots):
Be sure to ensure the aluminum ring that seals the grease at the ball joint shaft can rotate or the new boot will rip as soon as you turn rotate the ball joint (turn the wheel). This has happened to other restorers and the memo was handed down to me as a note of concern for using NOS boots.

[CharlesTurner]

I've seen C4 assembly line ball joint boots with a greenish hue on the upper side like that, but not that bright.  It's usually barely visible, especially once installed.

[Bossbill]

ASSEMBLY NOTE (regarding use of Service Replacement boots):
Be sure to ensure the aluminum ring that seals the grease at the ball joint shaft can rotate or the new boot will rip as soon as you turn rotate the ball joint (turn the wheel). This has happened to other restorers and the memo was handed down to me as a note of concern for using NOS boots.

Thanks Richard. I did read that and I'll be sure to check that prior to final assembly.
Whenever that will be . . .

[Anghelrestorations]

The green on the ball joint boots is actually typical....but I have not seen it that distinct or that exact color and with splotches of what looks like paint. 
Most people dont notice the green color because its very subtle and hard to see.  Not easy to take a picture of, but here is some boots I have that show that. 

20191101_112103 by Marcus Anghel, on Flickr

[Bob Gaines]

The green on the ball joint boots is actually typical....but I have not seen it that distinct or that exact color and with splotches of what looks like paint. 
Most people dont notice the green color because its very subtle and hard to see.  Not easy to take a picture of, but here is some boots I have that show that. 

20191101_112103 by Marcus Anghel, on Flickr

On service boots I would agree. That  green marking is the only way I have seen them.  On assemblyine boots I am skeptical. If it isn't seen then it isn't a issue . If it can be seen then it is a issue at least for me. Just because a service part looks a certain way doesn't always mean a assemblyline part looks the same.

[Anghelrestorations]

Agree Bob....good point on the assembly line units.  I will keep an eye open on the ones Im rebuilding in the future to see if I see any traces of green under the grease and grime....

[CharlesTurner]

Agree Bob....good point on the assembly line units.  I will keep an eye open on the ones Im rebuilding in the future to see if I see any traces of green under the grease and grime....

The '65 ones you just did for me had green on the assembly line boots.