Ball joints not the same

[Muddy]

I am replacing ball joints in my 97 TJ. Noticed the upper ball joints seem to be different lengths-mounting taper to press shoulder. Am I missing something?

Pictures coming…

Thanks in advance,
Muddy

 

[Muddy]

Replacements are Spicer. I haven’t been able to identify brand for the ones I removed.

 

[Duck Doctor]

The ball joints you removed are knurled. You’ll need to figure out if it’s possible to go back to smooth bore ball joints. Hopefully you’ll get some more input from others.

 

[Muddy]

@Duck Doctor thanks for the input.

Just checked out the lower ball joint, smooth bore Spicer joint slides ride in with no press needed! Looks like I’m in more of a predicament than I originally thought.

 

[machoheadgames]

Need to do the dimple trick where you add a bunch of dimples all over the press-fit area of the ball joint. That combined with loctite will fix the issue.

As for the tapered pin, I’m not quite sure I understand. One thing for sure is the upper ball joint design has the pin float vertically with no lateral movement. So the distance from the taper to the body of the joint is variable.