I am working on a design for tubular upper control arms.
I really like the threaded ball joints because it is a cleaner look. However, making them to accept the OEM style ball joint would make things easier because the ’97-99 ball joints are apparently different than the ’00-03 ball joints but they must fit the OEM upper control arm bolt hole pattern in the control arm.
I’m not sure yet what the difference is but it may be the angle such as 7-degree vs 10-degree. I will probably buy one of each and measure them.
One thing that just came to mind is that I have the Viper brake conversion kit from Sidewinder when they were still in business. My truck is a ’98 and the kit uses the ’03 knuckle. If the angle of the ball joint shaft is different, then how am I using the ’98 ball joint with the ’03 knuckle? If the '03 knuckle is 10-degrees then maybe the 7-degree fits inside albeit not perfectly???
I’m going to have to pull it apart and see what is what.
I found the following thread that touches on some of this: http://www.dakotart.com/forum/showth...r+control+arms
If anyone has any input in this regard I will appreciate it.