Christopher Mikesell
Member
Around two months ago I discovered that I had several problems with my SC's radius rod ball link. The first was that the cast iron cap was broken, and the second was that the entire socket was worn. I was able to braze the cap back together, but I still wanted to remove the slop from the ball link. At first, I thought about making a custom ball link that was about 1/16" larger in diameter. Then did a forum search for "radius rod" and read a lot of posts on sticking pennies, pieces of leather, and other spacers into Ford 8N radius rods to tighten them up. Then it occurred to me that it would be better to find a spacer that would fit all of the way around the ball. A quick search revealed that hollow polypropylene (a durable low-friction plastic) balls are readily available in many sizes. I quickly found a seller on ebay and bought 8 of these plastic balls. You can see the result in the pictures. The fit in the socket is excellent with no binding and no play. It would also be possible to nest two balls to remove even more wear.
<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto19207.jpg"/>
<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto19207.jpg"/>
