I really am trying to get it on its wheels.

Problem. The drag links only stick through the uprights by about 10mm with only 8mm of thread. No way will I get a nut on there
Ive cleaned the uprights out ect.

Whats going on ? have I got the wrong drag Links, do the uprights need the tappers increasing ?

ahhhhhhhhh Its been fighting me all week.

when you tighten the nut, it pulls the taper on the drag link through, more than you can push it by hand. it'll be fine. go for it, tighten it up, and if its doesn't work then worry, but it looks fine to me

Nope that is done up. Ive just taken the nut of to see how much thread ive got.

what does it look like with the nut on? looks like there is almost enough to get the nut on with no extra thread poking out of the top? plainly that is not the case if you are having such problems! If the taper is clean and burr free, the drag link is clean and burr free, and they are going together with no crap between the mating surface, and the nut has been done up tight to pull it in, and its still like that i dont think there is anything for it than to get a reamer and ream the taper out a bit more...

er, hmmm... if everythings clean, could it be a poor quality drag link? what make is it? i'd be surprised if the upright has been made wrong (its already been on a cortina for years potentially with several ball joints) i'd worry that if you reamed the upright out, when you come to replace the ball joint in years to come, the hole is too big?

just a thought

Well ive just ordered two more Draglinks, lets hope it does the job.

I got some drag links from Robin Hood years ago and my mate bought some from a local parts supplier, mine had a lot longer threaded section. He took some of the metal from the bit where the taper goes through making it thinner to get more nut on, still plenty left strength wise.

if you know somebody with a lathe and a 4 jaw indepedent chuck then the taper can be re machined to suit your uprights. I did this with some new track rod ends kicking about in the shed to save me buying some more.

Make sure that what you have are indeed Transit DRAG LINK balljoints.

It took my local motorfactor three attempts before they sent me the DRAG LINK ball joint rather than a TRACK ROD END balljoint.

They are different - I can't guarantee that's your problem but it's worth a check. Especially as it is such a 'wrong' fit.

Might be worth doing a search as I'm sure this has been covered several times and I think you may find that some part numbers are listed for the correct ball joints.

They came from Luego about six years ago so should be ok. I will see what the new ones are like.

I tried searching for ages, Theres loads of posts. I didnt get the aswer I wanted but I will look again.

£20 lighter and I am sorted. They have a longer metric thread than the unf ones I had.

cheers

Might help others if you can post the part number?

Ordered by the Qh number on here but they are not Qh parts ?

The only thing I can say is, the metric joint has a coarse and a longer thread compared to the imperial joint.