It's been long overdue, but the balljoints on the front of my LT pilot are shot. If you guys don't remember, Dave cut a factory balljoint from the stock arms and welded them into the longer arms. Unfortunately I think the added heat from welding pretty much ruined them, so after the first season they were shot.

I found some thread in type joints that I believe are going to have enough travel for what I need. I have a couple ideas, but if anyone wants to add their. $.02 I'd greatly apreciate it!

The current welded in baljoint has a round open end on the inside of the arm, the inner diameter of it is roughly 3/4". First idea is to chop the balljoint off leaving the 2 legs from the a arm welded to the balljoint "tube". Then, I found some threaded bungs that are 1" od on the one end, but I could turn it down to 3/4 on the lathe. I'm just worried it may be a little thin as the balljoint threads are 16mm

Second idea since there isn't much space to take up from the 3/4" ID tube to the 16mm balljoint threads, is to cut the old joint off straight and use a nut on both sides to lock the joint in place. This seems a little hack, so probably last resort.

Last, and the most time consuming, but probably the correct way is to build a jig to mount the arm in, cut the balljoint off of the legs completely, and turn those tapered bungs down to 1" all the way and weld those back in place of the stock arm.


I'm going to get started on this soon, but if anyone wants to chime in please do!

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When I replaced the ball joints on my Pilot I did what is closest to your Option #3. Just used the pilot itself as the jig and used some 1" OD tube that I threaded for the joints. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. Also, it was stock suspension, so I don't know how that changes things for you.

Hi there Nitro:
Long time no talk. I have been away from the site for a while now and just stopped in to see what's going on and seen this post.
If I may so bold as to post this link: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17888&hilit=ball+joint
This may be another option for you.

As for drilling or doing stuff to the existing damaged ball joint, I think you are going to find that it may be an issue. I believe those joints are made of a hardened material and may be very difficult to drill. I think they are made of the same metal that grease nipples are made of, and take my word for it, it's fukn near impossible to drill out a grease nipple without destroying several drill bits.

Just my .02 cents worth.
CO