Big vs small balljoint uca

-

Moparvinson

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2017
Messages
81
Reaction score
56
Location
Bosque farms. New mexico
Does anyone have a measurement to make sure balljoints are big ones? I am needing a set of big joint upper control arms for a disc swap on my 67 dart. The pull apart yard has a 1974 dart sport but it is front drum and sbp wheels? I have read that all after 1973 were big ball joint. Thanks for any help.
 
Does anyone have a measurement to make sure balljoints are big ones? I am needing a set of big joint upper control arms for a disc swap on my 67 dart. The pull apart yard has a 1974 dart sport but it is front drum and sbp wheels? I have read that all after 1973 were big ball joint. Thanks for any help.
73-76 A body cars, either drum brake, or disc brake, all have large ball joint upper control arms.
Makes no difference.
Go any get those UCA's.

Moparvinson
And why to you disagree with the reply that i posted?
73-76 Slant 6, A body, DRUM brake cars were 10 inch diameter brakes, and used big ball joint upper control arms.
It makes no difference in UCA's if the A body car, is disc or drum brake.
All big ball joint, from the factory, but then who is to say something got swapped out in the life of a 45 year old car.
It is known that a very few early production 1973 A body Slant 6, 9" inch Drum brake cars had small ball joints but that was using up leftover parts on the assembly line until the supply was used up.

Anyway, one way to tell small, or big, is the thread diameter of the ball joint stud.
7/16 small ball joint, 9/16 big ball joint.
Put an open end wrench over the thread area.
Easy peasy.
And for your information.
The 6 cylinder 73-76 A body, Drum brake cars, retained the small bolt pattern until the end, in 1976.
 
Last edited:
73-76 A body cars, either drum brake, or disc brake, all have large ball joint upper control arms.
Makes no difference.
Go any get those UCA's.

Moparvinson
And why to you disagree with the reply that i posted?
73-76 Slant 6, A body, DRUM brake cars were 10 inch diameter brakes, and used big ball joint upper control arms.
It makes no difference in UCA's if the A body car, is disc or drum brake.
All big ball joint, from the factory, but then who is to say something got swapped out in the life of a 45 year old car.
It is known that a very few early production 1973 A body Slant 6, Drum brake cars had small ball joints but that was using up leftover parts on the assembly line until the supply was used up.

Anyway, one way to tell small, or big, is the thread diameter of the ball joint stud.
7/16 small ball joint, 9/16 big ball joint.
Put an open end wrench over the thread area.
Easy peasy.
And for your information.
The 6 cylinder 73-76 A body, Drum brake cars, retained the small bolt pattern until the end, in 1976.
Thats what I was worried about since this is a slant 6 car and I thought all after 73 were disc brakes and bbp wheels. I didnt know you could still get drum brakes. Thanks for the update.
 
Thats what I was worried about since this is a slant 6 car and I thought all after 73 were disc brakes and bbp wheels. I didnt know you could still get drum brakes. Thanks for the update.
Score!! I got the control arms yesterday and just cleaned them up. Bushings and ball joints are all new. Looks like they were just replaced . pull apart yard charged 19.99 each. NICE!
 
You were lucky to find an A-body in a yard. They are getting very sporadic here among 6 yards within 50 miles. A NM car would have minimal rust too. Read up on the Moog offset bushings to allow setting more caster.
 
You were lucky to find an A-body in a yard. They are getting very sporadic here among 6 yards within 50 miles. A NM car would have minimal rust too. Read up on the Moog offset bushings to allow setting more caster.

20180414_144716.jpg


20180414_144701.jpg
 
-
Back
Top