Jdonoghue

My upper ball joint came out of the control arm this morning. So I spent my lunch hour making a fix to get me home. The thing stripped the threads out of the control arm real good - I didn't even have to thread it back into the hole, it just slid in there.
I guess I need a new upper control arm now - where do you get these from? Is there anything else I can do to fix it? Weld the thing back in ?
For now, I drilled a hole in the control arm on each side of where the ball joint screws in, and made a plate that fit on top of the ball joint. The whole thing is held in with a bolt through the holes I drilled. Too bad I don't have a digital camera here at work. It's redneck engineering at it's finest

wannadiesel

You could get one from a junkyard or from Dodge.

Holsteinman

Good luck finding one in the junkyard that is any good. For now you could weld the ball joint in till you can find a good one. The problem with finding one in a junkyard is the control arm already has the ball joint welded in. You would not belive how many people think the ball joint is pressed in, when they press it out they strip the threads. Yes you can get one from a dealer.

Good luck in whatever you do.

Rammer64

I wouldn't weld it unless it's a last ditch effort to limp the vehicle home. Welding it makes the control arm brittle around the ball joint area and prone to break off.
I know a few that have tried it thinking it's good as new, but not long after the control arm has snapped around the weld. It works in a pinch, but only for short periods of time.
Upper control arms shouldn't be too hard to find unless diesels pickups use something different than a normal one ton.

Just my 2cents.

frostie

I had the same thing happen. There is a truck wrecking yard near me that had one. In fact I know the guys that own the place, they said the upper control arms were the same for years. The ball joint itself is different on the Diesels though. I bought a good used one and removed the joint and installed the correct one for the diesel. Like it was said earlier, these are not pressed in but threaded in. they are kind of hard to get out. When I was all through I put 3 small tack welds on the joint. Its been OK for a few months now.
Good luck