New Ball Joints!

[Motivator]

I have recently started the process of replacing all the near 60 year old parts on my Dart! The first of which being the ball joints, my buddy and I spend the past day chipping at it, the whole process was a load of fun. Granted the majority of it was chipping off old grease to actually find the nuts we needed to remove as well as finding a place with ball joint sockets, who knew they'd be so hard to find? I wish I had gotten new tie rod ends when ordering the ball joints though, because when removing the lowers we tore off the boot on the old tie rods. Not to worry though, they will be replaced soon enough. On that note, does anyone have any experience with Delphi tie rods? I've been using Mevotech so far, but RockAuto only has Moog, Suspensia, Delphi, and Centric to choose from for innner tie rod ends.

Along with the ball joints we also put on new front drums, shoes, and springs! Working on drums is a bit different compared to discs, but its not as bad as some people make it out to be. Although I had to adjust them further this morning as I did a real poor job of it day of installation. I've noticed that when braking somewhat hard the car does tend to rumble a bit, nothing crazy, but it is a little different than before. I'm not sure if that's normal or not, we will see!

It's pretty easy to tell which one is before and after, I'm really happy to get all that old crud off!

 

[S'cuder]

I don't have experience with tie rod ends of any of the brands you listed, except Moog made years ago. Their quality has slipped a lot since then, so I won't recommend them.

Proforged makes a good product. Note the page I attached has both original 9/16" and larger 11/16" tie rod ends. The original size will do fine, but the larger ones can help if you plan on cornering hard. Since you're keeping your drum brakes, I'm guessing your Dart is more of a cruiser. Use the part numbers on the Proforged site and Google for a better price from a reseller.

Because the adjusting sleeves seem to be in short supply, if you go with the larger tie rod ends, you may need to use an aftermarket solid adjusting sleeve as sold by QA-1 and PST. Shop around though, you may find them.

Suspension & Chassis - Steering Components - Tie Rod Ends - Page 1 - Proforged https://share.google/fM0NTxNAkGRyJFrKk

Suspension - Steering - Solid Adjusting Sleeves Suspension - Steering - Solid Adjusting Sleeves

 

[Motivator]

I don't have experience with tie rod ends of any of the brands you listed, except Moog made years ago. Their quality has slipped a lot since then, so I won't recommend them.

Proforged makes a good product. Note the page I attached has both original 9/16" and larger 11/16" tie rod ends. The original size will do fine, but the larger ones can help if you plan on cornering hard. Since you're keeping your drum brakes, I'm guessing your Dart is more of a cruiser. Use the part numbers on the Proforged site and Google for a better price from a reseller.

Because the adjusting sleeves seem to be in short supply, if you go with the larger tie rod ends, you may need to use an aftermarket solid adjusting sleeve as sold by QA-1 and PST. Shop around though, you may find them.

Suspension & Chassis - Steering Components - Tie Rod Ends - Page 1 - Proforged https://share.google/fM0NTxNAkGRyJFrKk

Suspension - Steering - Solid Adjusting Sleeves Suspension - Steering - Solid Adjusting Sleeves

Such a shame with Moog, they're a constant everywhere I look but I've heard nothing but negative things with them in the recent years. Thank you for the advice, I'll definitely be looking into that while I'm doing my research!
Surprisingly I'm keeping this one as my daily, I'm just trying to keep everything fairly stock for the time being until I get more familiar with the car. The drums took a little getting used to, but I've found them to be fairly workable!

 

[RustyRatRod]

ProForged makes decent parts. All the other parts brands you mentioned are total chinkesium junk. Even Moog.

 

[Murray]

No control arm bushings?

 

[Motivator]

No control arm bushings?

I wanted to knock them out since I've got the parts but my friend had some family coming in so I didn't want to take his driveway for too long. They will be replaced soon enough though!