Not sure if this is the best place to post this but here goes.
Does anyone know what the taper is in track rod ends etc. Are they all a standard internal angle? Is it a Morse Taper?
I can work it out by measuring and using trig but just wondered if anyone knew.

never really thought about it! Be interesting to know. i can check whether its not a morse or a jacobs taper in work tomorrow.

i could add it to my taper turning jig on my lathe when i find out what it is

I oversized some balljointtapers on a Metro/Mini conversion with a standard tapered hand reamer. It looked ok and felt fine and it never fell to bits!!

I believe its 7.5 deg.

See my dwg here:
http://locostbuilders.co.uk/upload/Top%20ball%20joint%20adapter.jpg

David

Auto balljoint tapers are not specced in degrees, but in diameter change in inches or mm per unit length.

Common are 1:8, 1:10, 1:6

7.5 degs is about 1:8 iirc

quote:

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7.5 degs is about 1:8 iirc

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Actually, Syd's right!
Morse tapers are used for lathe and drill chucks etc. and are not remotely suitable for automotive use.
Flak Monkey, this was covered in a thread before which I think you started and it was pointed out then that 7.5 degrees would almost certainly result in catastropic failure!
IIRC I gave some details of common Ford and GM tapers, but I can say for a certainty that Transit TREs and DLEs are 1:8 which is not compatible with any other taper or reamer.
Owelly, it's quite possible to insert a steep taper in a shallower tapered hole and put the nut on the stud, but the only point of contact for the stud is either the lower or upper diameter of the taper, but not the whole taper. This is a dangerous practice!

I didnt start the thread, and no answer was given IIRC to the correct taper. However i shall shortly update the drawing so that the angle is correct.

I am assuming then that MK and the like have custom made reamers to adapt the sierra uprights...?

David

Sorry, I thought it was your thread, but I must admit I didn't look for it.
I doubt if MK would have special reamers made up; they're very expensive to have made.
I would imagine they just buy standard automotive reamers or mills from an engineering supplier or the like. You can buy them on-line too.

Thats ok. I was the one tying to find out if the taper was correct, as I was simply told it was wrong, but no-one could tell me how so...

Anyway heres the corrected version:


Image deleted by owner

When I oversized my holes (), I measured the new sized taper and transferred the dimentions to the tapered hand reamer and it looked fine to my micrometer but then again, I have been wrong before.

To just to add my 2p's worth....Syd and Rorty are spot on...

The reamers (at least the 1:6 and 1:8 IIRC) are readily available through specialist automotive tool suppliers, but they aren't cheap, last one I saw was around $130 (80 quid?)

An approx fitting taper just won't do...it has to be near spot on or it's just worthless and unsafe as mentioned above.