Cross posting for the unfortunates that aren't following my build thread.
Here is an option to all the stock ball joint/uniball outers that the aftermarket is saturated with.
Welded them up which took about 6 hours.
.030 ER70S
Triple passed all the corners
19.7V 413WFS on a Multimatic 220
Didn’t stop to measure, didn’t want to know.
They would pivot freely until welding the inner C’s then they got tight.
Once cooled, I pulled the bolts which came out easy by hand. Then pulled them apart with a pry bar.
Put them back together with both thrust washers on the top with no pivot pin shims and no bottom washers.
They went together easy by hand. Perfect axial alignment, literally zero binding with 45° of steering. No post tolerance increase.
The C’s shrunk by .055” from upper to lower load surface.
The concentricity of the knuckle and the C’s were .063” with the knuckle being lower than the C’s.
I think once the thrust washers are seated and load applied that .063” will near .00”.
What that adds up to is the lower bottom thrust washer will need to be 3/16” instead of 1/8”. The upper bottom thrust washer will need to be 1/16”. The upper thrust washers will both be 1/8” as planned.
Grease fittings will be 1/8” drilled through holes 90° to bushings with 1/4-28” threaded fittings.
The hub ID which was .008" over, closed up and the unit bearing will not drop in. The studs are loose but the ID needs some drum standing.
Still to weld are the upper and lower ear laminated sections after grease port machining and some of the inner knuckle fillets. This might even help close the C shrink gap.
Notes to old self...
Weld everything out except for the lower C ears, save for last.
Overbore the unit bearing ID to .015"
Do this in the winter when its cold and not 94°
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