Howdy. The rear radius arms on my roadster originally had a front heim joint on either side and I am replacing them with tie-rod ends. I can see that when I put the tie rod end in the bracket hole (5/8") it goes in past the taper and snugs up on to the shoulder. I haven't cinched it down yet, but I'm guessing it'll probably/maybe pull right up to the ball joint. I'm guessing I need to put some sort of tapered bushing in there? It'd have to be an awfully thin-walled bushing, though. Or is it OK to cinch to the shoulder in this application? Or could I press in a bronze or brass sleeve and then taper with a reamer? Thanks for yer help!
Someone with a lathe could make you some shouldered bushes that would press in and allow the tapered tie rod end to be snugged up. I had to do this when I bought some spindles that had been drilled out.
You need a tapered boss. Either via a shouldered insert that fits into that straight boss - which sandwiches the straight boss between the inserts shoulder and the nut on the backside, or by removing the existing boss and welding in a tapered one (or by cutting off the tab entirely and replacing it with one that has a tapered boss).
Yeah, quicker and easier to just cut that tab off and weld on a fresh one that hasn’t been butchered.
That tab isn't butchered. It's just for a different application. The original owner built the car with heim joints that use a bolt to secure them. This owner wants to use a ball joint which mounts with a taper. As for me if the heims were worn I'd replace them and not try to reinvent the wheel.
More importantly, what are you going to do with the 5/8"-18 UNF to 11/16"-16 UNF thread adaption. Luckily, the drill size for 11/16"-16 is 5/8" (0.625") for 75% engagement.
The Jalopy Journal
