Front lower ball joints

[jeepneagle]

So I am doing a complete front end rebuild and have been messing with the ball joints after watching the issues in Ludworks’s video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEIfWU6lXBg). The Rare Parts lowers are identical to the 3170 uppers with a tapered spacer attached. Tapered spacers already exist for tie rods, which generally use the same taper as ball joints. This appears to be a sleeve that would adapt the 3170 to the lower ball joint diameter https://tomsoffroad.com/parts/66-77-ford-bronco-tapered-f150-knuckle-conversion-shim. My big issue is the interference between the steering arm and lower control arm at full bump. I pulled my Rare Parts lowers apart and swapped the spacer plate to the top of the control arm and countersunk a bolt into the offending position. I reamed the taper in the knuckle just a hair to get the ball joint lower and ground the steering arm and lower control arm a bit too. The ideal situation would be to pull apart the moog 3170 joints, weld on a longer "cap" portion like the OEM unit and avoid the reinforcement plate all together. I'm glad Ludworks found the Jaguar XJ option and is making the adapter plates, should make for a cleaner solution in the end.

[Ludworks]

I tried a million different ball joints and configurations before I came up with the Jaguar conversion. It does require control arm modification and few extra pieces of hardware, but it allows us to use a commonly available bolt-on part, and fixes the unwanted control arm and steering arm contact. Kits to help with the conversion will be available by the end of the month. They'll be in the $30 dollar range (one kit does both sides) and then new Jaguar joints range from $15-$50 each depending on what brand you get. Overall a much less expensive option than Rare Parts or trying to source NOS.

[rmick]

That's great Ill be looking to get a kit when available.