Aluminum pillow balls in EB48.4 turnbuckles

[Chozwoz]

In taking apart and rebuilding my new to me EB48.4 among several bent, broken, and worn out assemblies I found that on all four turnbuckles one of the pillow balls is cracked and broken but only on one end and only on one side. Is this a weak spot? Are there perhaps stronger aluminum or steel or titanium upgrades for this part? Or should I just have plenty on hand for quick replacement at the track? Also some are nice and wiggly in there captive plastic ends, others are so friggin tight they barely move, especially the steering linkages. How do I loosen these up and free up the binding and drag on the steering? Thanks!

 

[nub]

I would just replace with stock parts. You can get a bag of rod ends for 11-12 bones and pivot balls for the same. For tight rod ends you can try squeezing on the outside of the pivot ball area to loosen them up.

I have no idea what someone could do to cause that type of damage. Some would say, some people can break anything.

That's the trials of buying used. You have no idea what the previous owner did or didn't do so buyer beware. That's why you always buy underwear new.

 

[Chozwoz]

I would just replace with stock parts. You can get a bag of rod ends for 11-12 bones and pivot balls for the same. For tight rod ends you can try squeezing on the outside of the pivot ball area to loosen them up.

I have no idea what someone could do to cause that type of damage. Some would say, some people can break anything.

That's the trials of buying used. You have no idea what the previous owner did or didn't do so buyer beware. That's why you always buy underwear new.

HAHAHAHA! Yea, don't think I'm gonna buy used drawers! My EB48.4 came to me for Xmas used: complete factory kit sans electronics, wheels, spare parts but was only $150 shipped. I got a custom painted body and a white rear wing too. It's completely broken down now in separate boxes by assembly. Former owner took fairly good care of it but it had to have suffered at least one real good hit or crash: the pillow balls, rear right outer hinge pin and both hinge pins on right front were bent on one end. Front inner hinge pin holes on the right side are all wallered out (ovalled) from running the car with a loose and bent suspension. One of the kingpin bolts for the front steering had half the collar cracked off. Center main drive shaft was bent. All bearings except pinion and diff case bearings were shot. Both seals from the inside wheel bearings had come off and were spinning around the axles in the rear. All axles have wear marks on the shafts where something got wrapped around them and wore off the finish but they are straight and the u-joints themselves aren't all loose and wonky. Overall I have about another $150 in replacement parts but it will be cleaned up, shimmed in all the right spots, and as friction free as I can get it until that all goes downhill once I get it to the track.

 

[RustyUs]

HAHAHAHA! Yea, don't think I'm gonna buy used drawers! My EB48.4 came to me for Xmas used: complete factory kit sans electronics, wheels, spare parts but was only $150 shipped. I got a custom painted body and a white rear wing too. It's completely broken down now in separate boxes by assembly. Former owner took fairly good care of it but it had to have suffered at least one real good hit or crash: the pillow balls, rear right outer hinge pin and both hinge pins on right front were bent on one end. Front inner hinge pin holes on the right side are all wallered out (ovalled) from running the car with a loose and bent suspension. One of the kingpin bolts for the front steering had half the collar cracked off. Center main drive shaft was bent. All bearings except pinion and diff case bearings were shot. Both seals from the inside wheel bearings had come off and were spinning around the axles in the rear. All axles have wear marks on the shafts where something got wrapped around them and wore off the finish but they are straight and the u-joints themselves aren't all loose and wonky. Overall I have about another $150 in replacement parts but it will be cleaned up, shimmed in all the right spots, and as friction free as I can get it until that all goes downhill once I get it to the track.

I am sorry, but I had to chuckle at that whole "took fairly good care of it" thing.

Those pivot balls in picture were in no way taken care of. I crank down on the nuts, that secure those balls to the towers, pretty darn hard... I've never had any look like what you got in front of you. Just buy some new stock pivot balls, and rod ends.

 

[Matthew_Armeni]

I would definitely replace those. If you have other parts that need replacing I would collect them all together and send them in for Tekno's replacement warranty.
When you go to reassemble, put a washer between the tower and the pivot ball and that should prevent the type of damage you're seeing. Typically the balls will look like that if the screw and nut securing them loosens, then the ball smashes into the camber link cutouts and bends/divots. The washer helps with that in case it loosens and also helps spread the load the ball sees during normal operation.