Technical Repairing Pitted Ford Wishbone Balls

Hi folks,

Im using a later front end and trying to keep unsplit wishbones for my T roadster on a home built ch***is. The problem Is the ball on my wishbone is very pitted, much of it's gone, as well as some of the shank it appears. The rest of the bones are OK.

Early ford parts don't exactly grow on trees down here, so just finding another wishbone could be difficult. The end result however has to be safe and affordable.

I saw one guy on a model T forum who had a ball that was all worn down - he built it back up with a MIG and ground/filed it back into a sphere. Seemed to work good... It's my understanding all the early ford stuff is forged not cast.

Has anybody here done anything similar or had any experiences? Or perhaps replaced a wishbone ball completely? I know the majority of guys here run split bones but I thought I'd give it a try.

Cheers

 

It will weld ok but that one looks bad around the neck area. That might be a problem.

 

Maybe You could buy a wishbone in the U.S. and have the seller
cut off the yoke and ball and just send that,(cheaper shipping).
Then you cut yours and weld on the new part.
Good Luck.

 

I would think that there will not be much left of the neck after grinding in prep to weld. I would search the hot rod guys down there and offer to trade your bones in on a good one, they could split yours. Or maybe they have the part they cut off the last one they split.

 

I would look for another one if it was me.

 

Good advice and congrats for running them unsplit.

 

Trailer hitch ball? Cut that nasty thing off, bore a hole through and torch weld it in?

 

Sandblast it, scuff it with a clean wire brush, then weld it up. A TIG would give a softer weld (less brittle), but a MIG should work fine as well.

I'd much more comfortable driving a car with a welded ball like that than a freshly attached replacement ball.

 

Agree with Alchemy, but I would stick the thing in a pan of evaporust for totally non-destructive derusting.
Weld it back up all the way to the fork and grind to smooth...it's big enough that welding isn't going to hurt the heat treat, and with good penetration and good surface smoothing you will eliminate a lot of stress risers. Looks like a V8 ball, which also runs in a rubber cover, right? If I'm wrong and it's Model A, get it smooth and use original size cup, they do NOT like the **** rubber ball conversion sockets from the bad resto catalog.

 

It shouldn't be impossible to machine a new ball with @3" of stud on it. If you insist on replacing the ball that is. Then you could cut the old one off, drill through the bones, slide the stud through the hole to the correct length and weld er up. That' s the only way I would do a replacement. Tim

 

Miles.. pm me your address.. I'll send you a wishbone end cut outside the welds with a good ball.
just cut yours at the weld & re-weld the replacement it.. play it safe...
cheers
Deuce

 

Thank you all for your good advice. As always there are several ways to get it done, some better than others.

And big thanks to Deuce for your offer - I've sent you a PM.

I'll hopefully be replacing the whole casting on the end, and then perhaps run a small gusset on the inside to tie the casting back into the tubes.

The HAMB rocks!!!!

Cheers!!