Custom balljoint fix for stock a-arms

Luni

Luni

Member
Sep 9, 2009
1,310
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Layton, UT
www.celicatech.com
Anyone ever done any custom work to make it so you can replace the balljoints in the stock a-arms. Its REALLY hard for me to try and justify the cost for long travel ones, and to be honest, I dont really know if I want to widen my quad much, it comes in handy for transporting it, when its as skinny as it is sometimes.

Anyway, wondering if someone has cut the ends off and welded a solution on there that allows you to run the same balljoints as the aftermarket a-arms run.

I have a really hard time with the prices of these things. My balljoints are bad, and I have a hard time with the prices some of the ebay guys are asking for a-arms, and theres no guarantee the balljoints wont be trashed too.

Unless someone can turn me onto a ~200-250 dollar set of aftermarket a-arms.
 
we've had a few guys make their own a-arms from scratch, ace is running a set,
and have had them extend stock arms, but i cant recall a ball joint solution,
should be do-able
 
I:I I'm all for home brew modifications. Problem is finding a pinch style ball joint :eek: IIRC, my son's 92-94 Escort had a pinch style, but you still have to fab it even if it's the right size. Best bet is if you had a "good" auto parts store go and pick their brain, Autozone or such probably won't be of much help. Or go to Moog web site and just start searching, might find something.

If you find something post it up and you will be a hero here and probably get lot's of reps !! Just be sure to put lots of thought into it so it's uber safe!!

Myself, I've been putting some thought into using some parts off front of 87 Warrior (only year with replaceable ball joints) so I can get wider and hydros in one shot. I've got an 87 for parts. Already stole rear hydros from it. It's great to have brakes that actually work :D

JMHO, your results may vary. I:I
 
Done it already. Ace's "custom" a-arms are a set I made, +3 +1 with all new, replacable ball joints.

The pinch bolt ball joint on the upper joint can be made replacable if you have an angle grinder, welder, a hacksaw, and a die grinder. The "trick" is to know what ball joint to get, what size tubing to get, and get the new ball joint in the same place as the old ball joint.

The lower ball joint can also be made replacable but it will take a little more work. The yamaha taper is not shared with other brands of quads and you must replace the lower ball joint with the correct taper or else all your suspension load won't be mated properly to your spindle.

If you do have the tools, purchase a lower ball joint for a yamaha grizzly 660 03-08 to replace the upper pinch bolt style ball joint and some tubing with an ID of 32mm or 1.260". Cut the tubing to a length of 12mm and face it off flush and square. Grind the old ball joint of the arm being careful not to grind the plate. Use a diegrinder and cut the hole out the same diameter as the OD of the tubing you've got (I've got .125 thickness chromoly tubing for this so the hole has to be 1/4" larger in diameter) Weld the tubing into the plate, and finish sand it to size so the ball joint slips into it. Install the circlip!

If you're doing the lower ball joint, send an email to Tim Wible at Stellar Machine and Performance. He sells the ricky stator lower ball joints in the yamaha taper with a threaded bung you can weld into the lower tubes after you remove the stock ball joint. Spacing and angles are CRITICAL on this one however and a LOT of measuring and blocking should be done to make SURE it's in the same place and at the same angle.

If you don't have the tools to do the job or think this is out of your league, PM me about getting your a-arms modified for new ball joints. I already have the tools to work all of the steps involved and can provide ball joints with modififed a-arms OR can modify some stock a-arms I have here and sell them to you already modified and you can source the ball joints yourself.
 
Luni said:
Anyone ever done any custom work to make it so you can replace the balljoints in the stock a-arms. Its REALLY hard for me to try and justify the cost for long travel ones, and to be honest, I dont really know if I want to widen my quad much, it comes in handy for transporting it, when its as skinny as it is sometimes.

Anyway, wondering if someone has cut the ends off and welded a solution on there that allows you to run the same balljoints as the aftermarket a-arms run.

I have a really hard time with the prices of these things. My balljoints are bad, and I have a hard time with the prices some of the ebay guys are asking for a-arms, and theres no guarantee the balljoints wont be trashed too.

Unless someone can turn me onto a ~200-250 dollar set of aftermarket a-arms.
Click to expand...

you can get the weld in pieces and hiems joints from a place called the chassis shop here in silverlake mi. look them up on the web.
 
revin-it, that's the thread I got my idea for the lower ball joint on my custom a-arms from. In fact, Tim at Stellar Machine is where I got the ball joints and weld in bungs!

His price has gone up a bit BTW (I guess just to keep up with the times) but he's still the most reasonable source of Ricky stator yamaha taper ball joints and threaded bungs I've found.

Luni, that's basically exactly what I was discussing doing to your a-arms in the PM. Only difference is, banshee's use the same taper joint upper and lower, blasters have the "pinch bolt" style uppers so the upper joint mounting location is different...
 
Interesting thread now that im in the same boat. My shee dropped a lower ball joint. The aftermarket ones are too much $$$$ and another stock one is no doubt gonna be several years old.
I wonder if my asr blasty arms will fit the shee?????
 
AWWW, well i guess it would be ok to lend the arms to the Shee if they will fit! I know that Raptor uppers fit in the bracket but the lowers are off a little I tried that once! I thought I read that the shee arms do fit. I will look for that post!
 
Paulie, IIRC I tried the opposite. I was about to install a set of Janssen Racing A-arms on my shee and had the blaster stripped down at the same time. The lower mounting locations are off by like 1.5". Remember this was when I was 15-16 and my mechanical knowledge wasn't anywhere near what it is today. The uppers were close iirc, only like .5" or so. Didn't have a welder at the time or the balls to modify the frame, so that was a no go. I may have pics somewhere I'll PM you if I do.
 
Roostinshee said:
Paulie, IIRC I tried the opposite. I was about to install a set of Janssen Racing A-arms on my shee and had the blaster stripped down at the same time. The lower mounting locations are off by like 1.5". Remember this was when I was 15-16 and my mechanical knowledge wasn't anywhere near what it is today. The uppers were close iirc, only like .5" or so. Didn't have a welder at the time or the balls to modify the frame, so that was a no go. I may have pics somewhere I'll PM you if I do.
Click to expand...

That's cool. I don't want to modify the arms or the frame so you just saved me some time, thank you!
I have a buddy who is building a drag shee I might just strike a deal for his old arms.
 
tbh im thinking the same thing as the OP

But i have been looking at a jap import quad i have that runs replacable ball joints.

The look to be the same size a arms,

Possible ill let you guys know
 
I thought i head that the shee arms fit and the rear swinger i think i heard it from zwister. Also i saw a guy on cl that had sometype of a arms on it with hydros but they were stockers off a shee i believe.
 
i want to do this on my warrior, my question is,

is there a reason you can't do what you did on the upper ball joints/upper A arms to the lower arms? i mean cut the old ones out, then weld in some tubing and use the same exact ball joint that you used in the top, in the bottom? seems like it would be a lot easier than cutting the end out, then buying the threaded bung and rod end. then worrying about the location for the rod end

if you would do the upper ball joint mod to the lower joints, you wouldnt have to worry about location or angles.
 
warriorblaster said:
i want to do this on my warrior, my question is,

is there a reason you can't do what you did on the upper ball joints/upper A arms to the lower arms? i mean cut the old ones out, then weld in some tubing and use the same exact ball joint that you used in the top, in the bottom? seems like it would be a lot easier than cutting the end out, then buying the threaded bung and rod end. then worrying about the location for the rod end

if you would do the upper ball joint mod to the lower joints, you wouldnt have to worry about location or angles.
Click to expand...

I got your PM earlier, just didn't have a great answer so here goes:

The upper ball joint on the 90-06 blasters is a 14mm "pinch bolt" style ball joint. The lower ball joints on the 90-06 blasters is a tapered shaft and castle nut arrangement.

If you have a 1988 and 1989 blaster, you will have to use two pinch bolt style ball joints. If you have 1990 and newer, you have to use a tapered shaft lower ball joint. The best option in that case is the Ricky Stator 16mm shaft ball joint. Not only is it replaceable, but will allow you to adjust camber.
 
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