pivot ball alignment

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Uncle Bob

Uncle Bob

Shiny paint causes stress.
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I seem to have an alignment problem here

1713098294484.jpeg


That is a 734 10-1/2" bellhousing and a Brewer's BSB734 ball stud bracket, which should work on this 71 Duster.

The engine is installed and the trans mount is installed, so I'm pretty sure those are where they should be. The engine mount brackets and biscuits are from Schumacher and are bolted to the back side of the block ears.

The fenderwell side mount seems untouched from the factory.

20231112_183054.jpg


Were those installed in A/T cars? Because this car has a D31 904 transmission code on the tag.

The car came with some big block bellhousings so is it possible that was added in the wrong place to accommodate a big block at some point in time?

Hopefully someone has ideas on what could be wrong. In the meantime I'm on the hunt for a photo of the wheel well area for an original manual trans car.
 
Uncle Bob said:
Were those installed in A/T cars? Because this car has a D31 904 transmission code on the tag
Click to expand...
No, AT cars did not have the manual trans bell crank mount.

In the FSM the plate seems to be laying on its side compared to yours which would suggest it might not be in the correct location
Screenshot_20240414-083300.png
 
Last edited:
There are different ball mounts available for the bellhousing. Depends on what year bellhousing you are using.
 
Uncle Bob said:
I seem to have an alignment problem here

View attachment 1716236381

That is a 734 10-1/2" bellhousing and a Brewer's BSB734 ball stud bracket, which should work on this 71 Duster.

The engine is installed and the trans mount is installed, so I'm pretty sure those are where they should be. The engine mount brackets and biscuits are from Schumacher and are bolted to the back side of the block ears.

The fenderwell side mount seems untouched from the factory.

View attachment 1716236386

Were those installed in A/T cars? Because this car has a D31 904 transmission code on the tag.

The car came with some big block bellhousings so is it possible that was added in the wrong place to accommodate a big block at some point in time?

Hopefully someone has ideas on what could be wrong. In the meantime I'm on the hunt for a photo of the wheel well area for an original manual trans car.
Click to expand...

In your picture, is this a bolt?
20231112_183054.jpg


The ballstud bracket gets welded to the frame, yours appears to be bolted in place. And that bolt is using the hole that the ballstud should be using. Post #4 shows the proper location of the plate and the spot welds.

While the automatic cars didn't usually get the bracket (some did, Ma Mopar and all) all the cars got the hole for the ballstud. The automatic cars just got a plug, like this....
IMG_4084.JPG


Looks to me like someone bolted that bracket to the car using the hole you need for the ballstud.
Dana67Dart said:
No, AT cars did not have the manual trans bell crank mount.

In the FSM the plate seems to be laying on its side compared to yours which would suggest it might not be in the correct locationView attachment 1716236457
Click to expand...

As a rule, automatic transmission cars didn’t have that mount installed. But in reality, it wasn't all that uncommon. Orders changed on the production line, assembly line workers put brackets on the wrong cars, etc.

Somewhere here there's a thread discussing this with several members that have factory AT cars that have brackets, I did a quick look but didn't find it.
 
Uncle Bob said:
Yes it's a bolt.

So, i's in the wrong place. Now to get it removed and in the right place.

Thanks everybody!
Click to expand...

Yup! The hole in the inner fender should line up with the top hole in the plate. And the existing hole in the inner fender is where the ballstud should go.
 
72bluNblu said:
While the automatic cars didn't usually get the bracket (some did, Ma Mopar and all) all the cars got the hole for the ballstud. The automatic cars just got a plug, like this
Click to expand...
Learn something new every day.

Thanks!

2 factory automatics no plates.

PXL_20240414_182400593~2.jpg
PXL_20240414_181948847~2.jpg
PXL_20240414_182636835.jpg
 
Whoever did it tried to weld the one extra hole to the inner fender but all they accomplished was making a flat side on the hole. Not even a little bit of penetration. I took the bolt out and it fell right off.
 
I've got more flattening out to do on the inner fender well before welding it but the studs line up now.

I appreciate everyone's help. :thumbsup:
 
72bluNblu said:
In your picture, is this a bolt?
View attachment 1716236519

The ballstud bracket gets welded to the frame, yours appears to be bolted in place. And that bolt is using the hole that the ballstud should be using. Post #4 shows the proper location of the plate and the spot welds.

While the automatic cars didn't usually get the bracket (some did, Ma Mopar and all) all the cars got the hole for the ballstud. The automatic cars just got a plug, like this....
View attachment 1716236521

Looks to me like someone bolted that bracket to the car using the hole you need for the ballstud.


As a rule, automatic transmission cars didn’t have that mount installed. But in reality, it wasn't all that uncommon. Orders changed on the production line, assembly line workers put brackets on the wrong cars, etc.

Somewhere here there's a thread discussing this with several members that have factory AT cars that have brackets, I did a quick look but didn't find it.
Click to expand...
Mine is bolted in place from the factory. But it's also an early A body, so that might make it different.
 
FWIW I had to patch the inner fender because there were extra holes with bonus cracks between them.

20240414_145232.jpg


I didn't cut anything out, just plug welded a piece over top of it to go from good metal to good metal. I zapped the cracks between those holes a few times before covering them up.

20240418_190117.jpg


The patch was made out of 18ga steel remainders from some AMD parts I had to "modify" for another car. I added a few more holes in the center of it all and burned it in.


20240419_132239.jpg


It's strong so that makes it pretty.

The reinforcing plate had two unused large holes and one smaller hole in it, so I plug welded those to the new metal patch.

20240419_161421.jpg


Caution wet paint.

I gave it a few boinks with a hammer and it didn't fall off so I called it good.

Now if I can get lucky and not need a different z-bar I'll be a happy man.
 
Uncle Bob said:
I gave it a few boinks with a hammer and it didn't fall off so I called it good.
Click to expand...
:thumbsup:
There are several pictures in the forum that show the stiffener in various orientation. If it's solid, it's good IMO.
That said............ I did find this picture a couple minutes ago................

1713561927676.png
 
Dave I noticed the photo you posted earlier was turned like that too. I went with the direction it was turned in the FSM. It's odd most of them are that way because the contour in the inner fender aligns with it when it's turned the other way.
 
Uncle Bob said:
I went with the direction it was turned in the FSM. It's odd most of them are that way because the contour in the inner fender aligns with it when it's turned the other way.
Click to expand...
Just a guess...

On the assy line the stud would hold the brkt in place and gravity would cause it to hang?

Or maybe they found issues welding it one way vs another?

Or maybe the FSM used a generic photo?

As noted above if it's well attached it will last your life time
 
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