Kubota Steering Drag Link Ball Joint Taper?

[npalen]

Needing to replace the drag link (goes between steering box and front axle) on my B9200 due to wear. Wondering about cutting off the existing ball joints and welding on new ones.
My question regards the taper on the Kubota (B9200) ball joints and whether it is fairly standard. I'm seeing taper callouts on reamers for ball joints of 1 1/2"/ft (7.15 deg), 2"/ft (9.56 deg) and 10:1(5.71 deg.)
TIA

 

[npalen]

This may sound like a silly question but has anyone tried restoring a worn steering ball joint? Can most ball joints be disassembled or are they permanently assembled?

 

[pmsmechanic]

I did this on a 955 John Deere. One steering cylinder tie rod end was worn out. I don't remember what a new cylinder cost but I remember it was more than I wanted to pay. I removed the cylinder from the tractor. Extended the rod and measured to the center of the worn out tie rod end. I cut the tie rod end off, then went to NAPA and found one that was similar in size and had the same taper. I welded the new tie rod end back onto the shaft without disassembling the cylinder. A bit of paint and no one was wiser. Probably a wiser way of doing this would be to match up replacement tie rod ends before cutting them off.

 

[npalen]

Thanks for the feedback. Its a nice challenge to fix something instead of throwing away.
I had a brainstorm about how to repair a ball joint using, none other than, JB Weld or Devcon or plastic steel as we used to call it back in the day.
My "vision" is to apply a thick layer of JB to the inside of the socket and then, with a layer of plastic wrap betwixt, press the ball in and let it set up. The question, of course, is the durability of the JB over the long haul.
Another question is whether the ball joints can be disassembled for repair. Would like to hear opinions.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Regarding repairing ball joints. There used to be an outfit that made a repair kit. It was kind of a universal setup with three different sizes available. My brother tried it on the sway bar on his Dodge. It worked for a while but in the end he just replaced the whole bar.

I found the link! It looks like he just repairs track bars now. Luke's Link

 

[npalen]

Good stuff!
I was wondering how to remove the ball from the socket and see that the good ol' hole saw comes into play.

 

[npalen]

I found out today from Messicks that the steering drag link is no longer available, anywhere.
So at the risk of talking to myself here, I probably need to think seriously about rebuilding the ball joints.

 

[pmsmechanic]

I wonder if a good automotive hot rodding type store would be able to set you up with what you need. Someone that builds supensions is what I'm thinking of.

 

[3Lfarms]

What’s the possibility of drilling the hole in the spindle out and installing a stud and then using a heim joint instead of a tie rod end?

 

[npalen]

Amazon.com: heims joint

The Heim joint would be an option. The drawback would be losing the taper fit but a size on size hole for the bolt might hold up if the bolt was well torqued. Thanks for the feedback, guys, I'm late getting back to the thread.