Taller balljoints for a fox-chassis Mustang

I seem to remember someone making a comment on here (or maybe it was corner-carvers?) about the Steeda X2 balljoints being identical to a Crown Vic balljoint... anyone have more info on that? I'm all for Steeda, but if I can pay $30 for a replacement balljoint instead of $150, your damn right I'm gonna go that route.

Basically I've realized that at least some portion of my front grip issues are the fact that my A-arms angle up towards the tire with the car at rest, so any compression starts costing me negative camber. I figure the only ways to correct this are either with a taller balljoint (thus bringing the outer end of the A-arm down), relocating the mount point of the A-arm upward, and I don't have the time/money/skillz to do the latter.

So, a taller balljoint seems to be my best bet.

Of course, compounding the issue is the fact I'm running SN95 spindles on foxbody everything else. I think that the balljoints interchange insofar as how they mount in the A-arm, so that shouldn't be a huge issue, but...

Thanks!

You might get more information if you went to a forum called "Corner Carvers" and did a search. I am sure that this has been covered there. Do a search first as posting a question before searching for the answer will get you only grief there.

jimbbski wrote: You might get more information if you went to a forum called "Corner Carvers" and did a search. I am sure that this has been covered there. Do a search first as posting a question before searching for the answer will get you only grief there.

The forum I mentioned might be the one I heard it on? hahaha

look up the different ball joints on rockauto.com.. you can look at pics and there might even be some specs listed.

I found the post on CC that I had remembered.

What it said was the X2 was a Crown Vic balljoint in a Mustang housing (so that it would fit in the Mustang control arm).

And after even further reading, I'm realizing that the taller balljoint alone isn't gonna do squat without a taller spring.

Damnit... everytime I think I can fix this on the cheap, I come back to "needing" to do a front CO coversion to make it work.

Are you trying to raise the car? Put a spacer in between the strut hat and the chassis tower.

a taller balljoint will lower the car by the amount that it is taller than the stocker, and may change the bumpsteer and camber curve a little bit.

Apologies if I've fallen and hit my head without knowing it, but...

On a Mac strut front end, a taller ball joint shouldn't raise or lower the car at all, should it? It should just lower the outer end of the A-arm relative to the strut (plus whatever effect on camber/steer from changing the point in the A-arm's arc vs ride height). The distance from the hub to the spring perch stays the same, the overall ride height should be unchanged...

It's too simple. I feel like I must be having a no-coffee day (which I am)...

Why would a taller spring be necessary?

Double-apologies if this is something obvious that applies to the Mustang strut assembly that's not in my generic strut model in my head.

In reply to ransom:

You're right in general, but fox-chassis Mustangs use an inboard spring setup. Because of this, a taller balljoint actually lowers the car some, because it elevates the spindle away from the control arm, and the control arm height is dictated by the spring.

In reply to ReverendDexter:

Thanks! Sorry, I should've at least googled for a look at the specific car before rambling on...

3rd gen Camaros are similar to Fox/SN95 Mustangs in that they don't have the spring mounted to the strut, but rather inboard like a car with upper control arms.

ransom wrote: In reply to ReverendDexter: Thanks! Sorry, I should've at least googled for a look at the specific car before rambling on...

Hey don't beat yourself up! Some of us suspension-deficient readers are learning by reading these things, like me!

If you really want to get to know ball joints, look here: http://www.howeracing.com/c-560-howe-precision-ball-joints.aspx With a bit of research and a few tools, you can put almost any ball joint on any car if you can weld.

I did install the X2 joints on my car and it did lower the car a bit, about 1/4-38 of an inch. On most cars that won't make much of a difference unless the car already has lowering springs. I had already done a CO conversion so it was a non-issue. In fact the kit I bought included 2-1/4 inch spacers to place under the coil springs to conpensate for this.