[jdhaines32]

[SIZE=medium]I need to replace the upper control arm and ball joints on my 1987 Dodge D100 truck. The new factory Mopar upper control arm that I got from the dealership is not threaded for the ball joint. All of the upper ball joints that I have found at the auto parts stores are threaded, and the parts places and the garage are saying that they never saw an unthreaded upper control arm. I checked with several Dodge dealerships to make sure I had the correct part number and control arm and they gave me the same info. The photos also show the control as being unthread like the one I received. They even cross-referenced the Mopar upper ball joint with aftermarket upper ball joints such as the Moog K778, and I have the ball joints according to the numbers. So I am now confused. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]I haven’t found much online regarding this issue. However I did read on another forum that the thread ball joint would be screwed into the unthreaded control arm and the ball joints threads would cut the threads into the control similar to self-tapping threads. I have not been able to have anyone that I have personally talked to be able to verify, that this is how the D100s control arms and ball joints went together. Could this be the case, because it looks like this is the only way the setup will work? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks[/SIZE]

 

[jdhaines32]

I was finally able to verify with two Dodge dealerships and a few forum members, that the threaded ball joints needed to be threaded into the unthreaded control arm so the ball joint threads could cut its own threads into the control arm. The truck is now back together, and just need to get the frontend realigned. It just seemed like Dodge would have threaded the control arm from factory, since it needed a threaded ball joint. So thanks again to all who contributed to finding the answer.